Beautiful Monsters
by Snowberryxoxo
Summary: In 1862 the estranged Althea Salvatore decides to run away a month before her wedding and accidentally meets not just Klaus, but also soon his brother Elijah and the two Originals both find themselves caught in a dangerous love-triangle. Klaus/OC/Elijah
1. Prologue

**A/N: Hii, I felt like writing a new story and this is the idea I came up with ;)**

**Rated M for lime scenes, Klaus and Elijah's sexiness and ripperish behavior xD**

**Disclaimer: (Sadly) I do not own the Vampire Diaries or any of its characters, but I do own those that aren't in the show or books**

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

**Beautiful Monsters**

Prologue:

**Mystic Falls, 1862**

Snow was falling beautifully from the nearly pure white sky as I heard Stefan and Damon make their way down the stairs, all dressed up in their warmest clothes, so they would be ready to go outside and enjoy the weather as only two troublemaking brothers could do. I wanted to join them outside, but was caught in a long and dreadful conversation mostly between my father Giuseppe and my future husband William, who were busy talking about the wedding as usual.

"_You're too slow, brother!_" I could hear Damon say loudly from outside.

"_We'll see about that, brother!" _Stefan said and there was a burst of laughter from both of them.

I instinctively smiled weakly and a quiet snicker escaped my lips, making my dear fiancé and father stop talking and looking at me with a puzzled look on their face.

"Althea?" Father said with a raised eyebrow. "Do you find the matter of your marriage amusing?"

"Of course not, it's just…" I sighed and looked out at my two younger brothers.

They looked so content and so carefree.

William seemed to notice that I was longing to go outside, for he suddenly kissed my hand gently and made me look into those caring eyes of his.

"You are free to leave, my love. We can take care of the rest without you." he said.

I smiled brightly and thanked him, then hurried outside to my brothers, who were tumbling around in the snow and laughing. I took a handful of snow even though I was not wearing my gloves and made a ball out of it, then threw the snowball towards Damon as hard as I could. It smashed into his face and knocked him down just as he had gotten up, making him frown and turn his head towards me at the doorstep of our home.

"Now that is not very ladylike, sister…" he said, getting up from the snow-covered ground once again.

He looked at Stefan with a meaningful look and suddenly my brothers began making snowballs as well with a mischievous look in their eyes. I gasped and quickly ran away before their snowball hit me and the two snowballs ended up smashing into the front door instead. I grabbed another handful of snow and disappeared behind a bush before they saw me, hiding until Damon was close enough for me to jump on his back and smear the snow in his hair and face.

"Damon, are you really going to let a girl get you like that?" Stefan asked teasingly as I jumped off Damon's back, still giggling of the annoyed facial expression Damon showed.

"Of course not! Let's catch her!" Damon said, making me run off once more.

We chased each other, threw balls of snow and laughed as we enjoyed our time together. By the time we were too cold and too tired to throw another snowball our father was standing at the door and shaking his head of us, while William merely smiled at me.

He might be almost ten years older than me, but he understood that I was still young and wanted to have fun… well, most of the time. It did happen that he sometimes would tell me not to embarrass him or scold me like my father did, because I was not acting like a proper lady.

"You better get inside," William said, helping me up from the cold ground. My dark green dress was soaked and dirty, my long and dark curled hair looked like a bird's nest and my body was shivering from the cold. "I cannot wait to see you at the family dinner tomorrow night."

Oh, yes. I'd nearly forgotten all about the dinner with his family tomorrow and even the thought of talking with his dull parents, who only seemed interested in politics and pointless gossip about the other founding families in our town. Most of the time I wanted to stab myself with a fork or slit my throat with a knife, because they were some of the most racist, hypocritical and incredibly posh.

"I too cannot wait," I lied and smiled sweetly. "Take care, William."

He pressed his lips briefly to mine whilst my brothers were busy talking with my father and I waited until he'd left completely before I let the smile fade away. As much as I liked talking with him sometimes, then I had never felt love whenever I was alone with him.

"_Thea?_" Stefan said worriedly, taking my attention away from my thoughts.

"Come, Steffie. Let's get a cup of tea and sit at the fireplace." I said before he could ask.

Stefan rolled his eyes at the nickname I'd given him, but he went inside with me and after changing to dry and warm clothes we sat at the fireplace together with a warm cup of tea. Damon and our father unfortunately had to leave, because they had business to attend to at the Lockwood Estate and since Stefan was only 15 and I a woman, then we had to stay behind.

"It's strange to think that my oldest sibling is getting married in only a month," Stefan said and took a sip of his tea. "Are you excited?"

"Of course not," I blurted and blushed when I realized what I'd said. But it was too late now and Stefan didn't seem that surprised of my answer. "What I meant is that… I am excited about getting married, but… not to William. He is a kind man, but–"

"But you do not love him. We know."

I frowned. "_We_?"

Stefan's cheeks became flushed and he scratched his ruffled dark blonde hair nervously. "Damon and I have noticed that you seem… unhappy with William."

I sighed and looked out of the window. The snow was still falling, but the sky had turned darker and I knew that it wouldn't be long before a storm would come. It was rarely that it snowed in this part of Virginia, but this year we had been getting a lot of snow and of course my brothers had taken full advantage of that. Last time we had snow was about six years ago and at time I had only been 15, Damon 13 and Stefan barely 9 years old.

"Do you think Father will hate me if I… left? Would you and Damon?" I asked, moving my gaze back to my brother.

This time Stefan was shocked. "Are you thinking about running away?" he asked anxiously. "And then a month before your wedding?"

"Perhaps… I don't know. I feel like it is the only way out of this… arranged marriage of mine." I said.

"Althea… you know I love you very dearly and cannot stand seeing you unhappy, but is this truly what you want? Or are you just… nervous?"

I shrugged. Maybe I did want it or maybe I was just nervous. Either way, then I rather wanted to travel around the world and enjoy being young instead of getting married so soon only to have William's children and be a good wife.

"I won't go if you will hate me for it." I said after a while.

"We won't hate you no matter what you decide to do," Stefan said. "I promise."

"_Sharing secrets, are we?_" a sudden voice said.

I looked up at Damon, who'd just come back home and he was looking at us with a slightly suspicious look in his eyes. He always hated being left out on secrets just like I hated not being able to enjoy my youth as much as they could.

"Oh, we were just talking about your lack of dancing skills," I lied teasingly, making Damon wrinkle his nose. "Right, Stefan?"

Stefan looked at me for a moment, but nodded and grinned. "You always were born with two left feet!" he said teasingly.

Damon rolled his eyes of us and took a seat next to me on the couch. "Why are you back so early anyway? Did Father have enough of you?"

"Ha-ha, very funny, but no. He needed to speak with the mayor privately and no longer needed my services anyway."

I raised an eyebrow at that. Our father had always been a very secretive man – especially after the unfortunate death of our mother, who died while giving birth to Stefan. No one ever asked him about what he did whenever he didn't want us to go with him, because we were afraid that he would either scold us for interfering in his business or say that it was nothing special.

Later that day as everyone was getting ready to go to bed and it had become dark outside, I packed a couple of my things and paid one of our maids to prepare a carriage for me. I'd had time to think about what I was about to do and I decided to follow the desires of my heart by leaving. I knew that my father would never forgive me for it and that Damon might hate me for not telling him anything, but I had to do this.

I wanted to be free.

However, before I snuck out of our house I left a letter inside my brothers' bedrooms that they would find tomorrow morning when they woke up. I left something else in Damon's bedroom since I knew that he would take my departure the hardest and I therefore wanted him to have my diary, so he hopefully would understand that this thought of traveling around the world was not some silly idea, but a wish I'd had for many years.

I then set off in the carriage and told the coachman to take me to Atlanta where I hoped to be able to convince my aunt into letting me stay with her for the night. I was nervous and somewhat excited at the same time, because even though I was infuriating my father by doing this, then I would finally get what I wanted for once.

Or so I thought, until I suddenly heard the sound of someone calling my name in an angry tone. I looked out of the window and saw my father along with a few other men, riding towards me on their horse. I panicked and quickly told the coachman to go faster, which he then did despite the fact that it was dangerous for us to be driving in this storm in the first place.

I looked out of the window again and could see that we'd lost my father, but as I did the carriage suddenly skidded off the road and I heard the horses screech as it was knocked over. I held on to the carriage, but still found myself being flung around, until the carriage finally stopped moving on the slippery road. My head was spinning and aching so much that I found it hard to concentrate on anything and I just lay pressed against the carriage door without being able to move.

But when I heard the sound of another carriage I gathered my strength to get up and suddenly felt a strong pain in my chest, making me fear that I'd broken a rib or two. I bit down in my bottom lip and endure the pain long enough for me to get up in a sitting position.

The other door to the carriage was suddenly opened, though, and I wasn't met by a pair of familiar eyes that belonged to my father or brothers, but these were sky-blue and the face they belonged to made me forget about the pain I was feeling right now.

"Tell me your name." he said as he crawled inside the carriage.

I saw flakes of snow in his dark blonde hair and wanted so badly to brush them away just to touch him. "Althea," I said and my eyes widened when I suddenly saw a pair of fangs extent from his mouth. He bit into his wrist and forced me to drink his blood, which I reluctantly did. I felt some of the pain disappear as if his blood was healing me and I pushed him away. "Who-who are you?"

He lifted me up and as I now stood I could see that he was a very handsome man. "Call me Klaus."

**Thanks for reading and please review! (reviews make me update faster!) :D**


	2. Creatures Of The Night

**A/N: O_o Wow, I did not expect to get that many reviews, faves and alerts at the first chap, but thank you very much! :D**

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 1:

The sound of birds twittering loudly outside woke me up the following morning and I was surprised to find myself in a stranger's house after last night's event. I didn't remember much of what happened, other than the fact that I'd been in an accident and a creature of the night had saved my life. I sat up carefully since my body was still sore from the fall and noticed that I was only dressed in my chemise, making me blush and look around for my luggage.

"_I told you to bring me the luggage to the house, so where is it then?_" I heard a familiar, stern voice say.

I recognized it as – Klaus, was it? – and decided to hide. He might have saved me, but I had been told far enough stories about the creatures of the night to know that they were not kind-hearted of nature. It wouldn't surprise me if this man had only saved me, so he could use me as a sort of toy or drain me for my blood later.

So I quickly went to the window of the bedroom I was in, groaning quietly when I realized that I was on the second floor and therefore several feet from the ground. I wouldn't survive the jump, but I was lucky I would end up with a broken leg or two.

I shook the two options away and looked worriedly around in the room. I had no other options besides a large wardrobe, but I knew that Klaus would check the wardrobe as the first thing when he didn't find me sleeping on the bed. I quietly lay a chair down and used my foot to break one of its legs off, which I could use a weapon for when he eventually found me and then hid in the wardrobe.

"_Althea?_" Klaus said, his voice coming from _inside_ the room this time. I heard footsteps and then a low chuckle. "_I save your life and this is how you repay me? Hmm, well if you want to play hide and seek, then I'll be happy to play with you._"

I frowned, but when I heard him near the wardrobe I quietly walked deeper inside it, trying to hide behind the dresses and coats that hung inside it. For a moment it became eerily quiet outside and the only thing I could hear was the sound of my own heartbeat.

I took a deep breath, but as I did the doors suddenly opened and I was spotted by Klaus. I instinctively ducked and jumped out before he could catch me, and then went to strike him on his head with the leg from behind when he suddenly disappeared in the blink of an eye. I gasped and turned around to face Klaus once again, but when I tried hitting him he merely caught my wrist in mid-air and wrestled the leg easily out of my hand.

"Impressive," he said. "Most women would be screaming by now."

I took a step back and he took two steps forward, closing the space between us in a highly inappropriate way. I could feel his breath on my cheek as he leaned down to my neck and took in my scent as if he was enjoying the smell of a flower or something very delicious… hopefully it was the first thing, because I really didn't want to die now.

"Mmm… human," he murmured and leaned back to look at my face. He took in my ruffled dark brown hair, my forest green eyes and my slender body figure. A mischievous smirk appeared on his face, but he didn't do anything to me. Instead he took a step back and I exhaled air I didn't even know I was holding in. "You don't happen to know anyone by the name of Katerina Petrova? Or perhaps Katherine Pierce?"

I frowned and shook my head, wondering who the person was. I certainly hadn't heard it before, but it did have an air about it that made me feel curious.

"Where am I?" I asked worriedly.

Klaus took my hand and kissed it lightly, then walked out without saying a word, leaving me baffled and annoyed. I quickly followed him, though, and managed to stop him as I came downstairs to the living room.

"Answer my question," I said defiantly, folding my arms stubbornly. "Or I will tell anyone what you are and have you killed."

Klaus raised an eyebrow at that. "Is that so? And just _what_ do you think I am, Althea?" he asked, stepping dangerously close to me.

I instinctively took a step back. "You are a creature of the night. You feed on young women and-and take their innocence away."

Klaus smirked brightly now. "Their innocence? Well, to be honest then I admit of deflowering quite a lot of women in my time, but it's not just young women I feed on and we prefer to be called vampires even though I am one vampire who is not restricted to only hunt during nighttime."

I frowned again and didn't know what to say for a moment. I was standing in the same room as a real life vampire and one, who could walk in the sunlight. Was that even possible? Were there vampires who walked among the humans during daytime?

"What am I doing here? Where am I anyway?" I asked.

"In Macon," Klaus answered. "I couldn't just leave you in the carriage, could I now?"

There was a noise from the entrance and as I turned around I saw a young servant enter the house with my luggage. He was covered in snow and looked out of breath as if he'd been running around and looking for something… like my luggage.

"Finally!" Klaus said in an exasperated tone. "Hmm, it seems your luggage is soaked. I will have my maids buy you some clothes, but you don't seem to mind walking about in your chemise…"

I wrinkled my nose and looked down at my bare arms. It was slightly cold in the house and especially when I wore only my chemise, so I walked up to the lit fireplace and sat close to it, while Klaus ordered the servant to dry my clothes and the maids to bring me some new. I didn't like the way he spoke to his servants, but I didn't dare arguing with him about it.

"Where do you live, Althea?" Klaus suddenly asked.

"Mystic Falls," I answered without taking my eyes off the burning fire. It was strangely soothing and reminded me of all the times I'd sat by the fireplace of my home with… oh, no! My brothers! I quickly stood up and looked at the old grandfather clock. It was nearly noon, so they had probably read the letter if my father hadn't told them the truth first. "Does anyone know about the crash?"

Klaus shrugged and walked up to me. "But I did hear something about a young woman running away a month before her wedding. That wouldn't be you, would it?"

I sighed. "It is. I… needed to do it."

"Ah, you do not love the lad? No, that can't be the only reason. A woman like you wouldn't leave her entire family just because of an arranged marriage. I'm guessing you want to travel, see the world, find the right man to fall in love with…"

I felt my cheeks become warm and flushed at the last thing and quickly looked away, hoping that Klaus didn't notice it. He touched my back and I felt a tingle of excitement shoot through my veins, making my heart beat faster. I looked into his eyes and felt that strange urge to touch him again, but I reminded myself of what he was.

"You know nothing about me," I said, removing his hand from my back. "I am grateful of what you did for me and for letting me in to your home, but I need to leave as soon as possible."

"Hmm… very well, you may leave then." Klaus said, taking a step aside and allowing me to leave.

I hesitated, because I _was_ only wearing my chemise and it was very cold outside. Even if I found myself a carriage, then I would most likely die of hypothermia before I reached Atlanta. I groaned of the fact that I would have to ask Klaus if I could stay for a bit longer or at least until I'd found myself some proper clothes.

"I thought so," Klaus said, smirking smugly. "How do you feel about becoming a vampire? You still have my blood in your system. I could easily snap your neck and then… you'll live forever."

I didn't know what to answer. Of course I was curious about the life of a vampire, but I didn't know if I would be able to live with the thought of killing someone or of drinking blood.

"What is it like? To be a vampire?" I asked hesitantly.

"Amazing…" Klaus said, walking up behind me.

He stood so close that I could feel his body against my own and his hands moved down along it, making me both appalled and allured at the same time. It was a horrific feeling and especially when I was letting a vampire touch me. I'd never let any man touch me like that, so why was he any different? I tried moving away, but my limps wouldn't move. It was as if my curiosity and desires were taking over my control and letting me let go of my inhibitions.

"Your senses are enhanced; you have the abilities to do nearly everything you want to and you no one can tell you what to do. You can use your eternity to do as you please and stay forever young and beautiful. Isn't that something you want?"

I felt his hands on my hips now and his chin was resting on the crook of my neck. His breath smelled of something metallic and intoxicating as he breathed on my skin.

"I… Forever is rather a long time, isn't it?" I asked, trying hard to focus.

"Well, that depends how you spend it… or rather _who_ you spend it with," Klaus answered, kissing me softly on my neck. "I could really need someone like you. You have that air about you… you're meant to be a vampire."

I suddenly woke up from my trance-like state and finally managed to tear myself away from him, slapping him hard across his face as I did so. And to think I nearly fell for his tricks…

"Forget it! I will never become a monster like you! Never!" I hissed angrily.

I stalked out of the room and ran upstairs to the bedroom Klaus had placed me in before. I slammed the door shut, blocked it with a dresser so he couldn't get in and then armed myself with the broken leg again. If he came anywhere near me I would drive the piece of wood through his heart as I remembered my father telling us once that you had to do in order to kill a vampire.

"_You cannot stay in there forever, sweetheart! You will come out eventually or I'll gladly come in to you!_" Klaus said, standing right outside the bedroom.

"I'll stake you then!" I shouted back.

Klaus chuckled. "_Go ahead. I don't mind._"

That made me dropping the poorly made stake and fear that not all the stories my father told me about vampires were completely true- no, he was probably just lying to scare me. I picked the stake up and pushed the dresser away, then opened the door to find… nothing.

Klaus was gone.

"Dear heavens…" I muttered and looked around, suddenly finding Klaus standing inside the bedroom. I quickly reacted and rammed the stake into his heart, but it didn't go completely through and it didn't seem like it hurt him either. He yanked the stake out and tossed it on the floor, looking completely unfazed by what I'd just done.

"Now I'm truly pissed off." he said, moving towards me.

I yelped and ran as fast as I could back downstairs, running towards the front door when I suddenly felt someone grab my wrist to stop me. I barely had the time to turn around and look at Klaus before I suddenly felt his hands on the sides of my head and then everything went black as he snapped my neck. Now I just had to wait and see if I truly would become just like him…

**Thanks for reading and please review! :D**


	3. Elijah Smith

**A/N: Hii, again thanks for all those lovely reviews, faves and alerts! :D**

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 2:

The sun was still shining by the time I woke up and its brightness made me wince and roll over on my stomach, but I didn't feel the floor under me. I blinked a few times to clear my blurry vision and when I saw what or rather _who _I was laying on I flinched away, making Klaus chuckle and sit up.

"Good morning, sweetheart," he said and cocked his head a bit to the side. "How do you feel?"

_Hungry_, was the first word that came to my mind. _I'm starving_. I didn't say that and tried getting up instead. My neck felt sore and it felt like I was being bombarded with strange feelings that were so strong that I felt like crying. My gum was hurting so badly and my skin felt like it was on fire, so I closed my eyes and sat down in the corner of the living room where the sunlight couldn't reach me.

"You need to complete the transition," Klaus said and smirked for some reason. "You need to drink human blood and if you don't… you'll die."

I looked up at him, feeling horrified by the thought of dying and never being able to see my brothers or even my father for that sake. Klaus saw the panic in my eyes and the smirk on his lips turned devilish as he turned to call for the servant, who had fetched my luggage.

The servant came in to the room and the second he did so I heard the sound of a beating heart that made the hunger almost excruciating. I felt my canines extend and turn razor-sharp and knew that they were waiting impatiently to sink into his veins.

"I-I can't," I stuttered, my voice trembling as much as my body was. "It's-it's _wrong_!"

Klaus grinned. "Is it wrong to be hungry for what you truly need? Do humans not kill animals to satisfy their needs?" he said.

I didn't know what I hated the most; the fact that he was right or the fact that I was about to kill another human being just to survive. Klaus went up to the strangely calm servant, who seemed to be in some sort of trance-like state and I watched as he bit open the young man's neck.

I was unable to control myself the second I saw the blood trickling from his neck and I instinctively leaped towards him like a ravenous wolf, sinking my fangs into his neck so hard that he lost balance and fell to the floor. I didn't let go of him once as I more or less ripped his neck wide open. The taste of blood was like honey in my mouth and made me crave for more.

"There's a ripper hidden inside you, sweetheart. A ferocious ripper that's just craving to get out."

I finally let go and looked down at the pale body beneath me, feeling a rush of adrenaline still lingering inside me. The man was dead, his head nearly torn off his body, and I was completely soaked in his blood from head to toe, but I didn't feel the slightest disgusted. I felt… content even though the hunger was still raging inside me and craving for more.

"More…" I said softly and looked at him, blood still dripping from my mouth. "I want… more."

Klaus grinned and called for two more of his servants, who both had barely come inside the room before I jumped on them and tore them apart. The feeling of killing someone was almost overwhelming, but I loved it and it felt so good that I couldn't make myself stop. I went on a hunt in the house for the other servants before Klaus could stop me and sunk my fangs into every one of them. I first stopped when Klaus pulled me off a maid I'd only sunk my fangs into once and he slammed me against the wall with such strength that I was forced to calm down.

"I'd really prefer if you didn't go about and killed all of my servants," he said firmly, but the smirk on his lips revealed that he was more than pleased about what I'd done. "Now, you better put this on or else you'll burn in the sun and I can't have that. Such fierce beauty shouldn't be wasted."

He took out a beautiful necklace with a Lapis Lazuli stone that I recognized immediately because the necklace was my own. It bore the Salvatore family crest and had once belonged to my mother before she passed away. Damon and Stefan had a ring with the family crest on instead and the two rings were too made of Lapis Lazuli.

"My necklace…" I said, reaching out for it but Klaus held it out of my reach.

"Yes, I had it enchanted by a witch while you were… dead-ish." he said and signed for me to turn around.

I did and felt him put it on my neck where I was so used to having it. I rarely took it off, so it shocked me that I hadn't even noticed that Klaus had removed it from my neck in the first place. I closed my eyes for a moment and placed my hand on the necklace, wondering what Damon and Stefan would say to me being a vampire now.

"I… don't know if I should thank you for doing this," I said and turned around to face him again. "You killed me and turned me into a vampire against my will."

"And are you not happy I did? You wanted to be free and I gave you freedom." Klaus said.

He cupped my face in his hands and the feeling of his touch made me want to give in to the temptation I'd felt ever since I first laid my eyes on him. I leaned in to kiss him and felt him kiss me back with such passion that I was unable to break free of the control he had over me.

I wrapped my arms around him and jumped up on him, locking my legs tightly around him. He pressed me against the wall and I felt a desire inside me that was so strong that I accidentally let out a moan of pleasure. It would be so easy for me to give in to him and let him have his ways, but I reminded myself of that I didn't know this vampire nor did I feel anything but lust, so I let go of him and pushed him away from me.

"That is all you'll get for saving me and giving me freedom," I said, smirking mischievously. "Now if you'll excuse me, then I think that I will make myself decent."

I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Klaus was smirking as I left the room, but he didn't stop me and let me go upstairs to the bathroom where I undressed and made myself a warm bath that I badly needed right now. I washed the blood off my body, my hair and my face and by the time I was done the water had turned scarlet red as if I had been bathing in blood all along. I dried myself and was helped into a new dress Klaus' maids had bought for me. It was scarlet red like the water in the bathtub, but beautiful and fit me almost perfectly.

As my hair long dark brown hair was being curled neatly I heard someone else enter my bedroom and a pair of strong hands slipped around my waist. I didn't need to look to know who it was and merely smiled as I felt his breath on my neck.

"Unfortunately I have to leave now for an important meeting with a friend of mine, but I trust you will stay inside and not kill any of my remaining servants." Klaus said.

"I'll try, but I can't promise anything," I said, making him chuckle. "When will you be back?"

"Hmm, before the sun goes down, I hope. Feel free to train your new powers… especially compulsion."

"Compulsion?" I turned around to face him.

"Yes. Watch and learn…" Klaus walked up to one of the maids and made her look him in his eyes. I noticed that his pupils dilated and the maid came in a trance-like state. "I want you to fill a glass with your blood and give it to Althea."

The maid blinked once and then left the bedroom, but she came back after a few minutes with a glass filled with blood, looking slightly pale. She handed it to me and I took a sip of her blood. It tasted delicious as always and removed the last bit of hunger I had inside me.

"I will be waiting then," I said, placing the now empty glass on the dresser. "Take care, love."

Klaus kissed my hand softly and then left the house, leaving me alone with his five remaining servants, who all seemed slightly terrified of being near me. It annoyed me that I wasn't allowed to kill them too and since there wasn't anything else to do, I decided to leave the house anyway and went for a walk to the shops.

I was tempted to run away and live the life I wanted, but a part of me wanted to stay with Klaus and show him my gratitude for what he did for me. He stirred something inside me and made me feel more alive than I'd ever felt before in my life.

It was strange that I felt this way about a man I did not know and then a vampire, but it felt right and reminded me of the kind of happiness I once felt when I fell in love with another boy in my hometown. He was just a servant, so of course my father was very displeased about it and fired the poor boy for sending me romantic poetry, for touching me in an "inappropriate" way and for giving me my first kiss.

To make things worse, then he was a slave brought from Africa and that had made my father so furious that he actually slapped me. I had cried all day, but Damon and Stefan had been there to comfort me and Damon, who was only 13 at the time, had nearly hit him for hurting me.

I shook the memory out of my head and was soon distracted by a beautiful piece of jewelry I saw in one of the shops. It was a pair of ruby earrings shaped as teardrops and the rubies were surrounded by small diamonds. I wanted to buy them, but I remembered that I didn't bring along any money and Klaus didn't give me anything either.

However, I suddenly remembered that Klaus told me to practice my powers, so I went inside and walked up to the shopkeeper, who was just being paid by another customer. I waited until the customer had left and then walked up to him, making him look into my eyes.

"I want you to give me the ruby earrings at the window," I said. "For free."

The shopkeeper frowned, though, and didn't seem under my control at all. "What on earth makes you think that I will give you those for free? Who do you think you are?" he asked angrily.

"_Give her the earrings and apologize for yelling at her,_" an unfamiliar voice suddenly said. At first I thought it was Klaus because of the British accent, but when I turned around I saw someone entirely else, who had a familiar air about him that led me to believe he too was a vampire. "Now!"

The shopkeeper nodded and quickly fetched the earrings, handing them to me followed by an apology for yelling at me. I sighed in relief of being rescued by this vampire and turned to him to thank him, but he beat me to it.

"You do not need to thank me," he said, leading me out of the shop. "But do remember to be careful when you go about and compel people, yes?"

"Of course," I said. "Thank you. I am very new at all of this and Klaus–"

"Klaus?" he repeated, looking wonderingly at me. "Did he turn you?"

I nodded. "I… wasn't supposed to leave, but he cannot expect me to sit at home and do nothing."

The man smiled weakly and ran his fingers through his oak brown hair. I couldn't stop myself from staring at him and those warm, oak brown eyes of his. We stood staring at each other for a couple of minutes and none of us knew what to say, but the sound of a woman falling on the slippery ground broke the silence and made us return to our conversation.

"My name is Althea Salvatore," I said and he took my hand to kiss it. "It's a pleasure to meet a fellow vampire."

"Oh, the pleasure is all mine, Miss Salvatore," he said kindly. "And my name is Elijah… Smith, but do call me Elijah."

I smiled and nearly forgot to take my hand back from his. "I better go back before I catch a cold. Can a vampire catch a cold?"

Elijah chuckled. "No, we cannot. But I hope to see you sometime again. Perhaps I can teach you how to use your powers properly."

I smiled brighter. "Yes, perhaps."

**Thanks for reading and please review! :3**


	4. Hybrid

**A/N: Hii, thanks for the lovely reviews, faves and alerts! :D**

**The song/poem is made by Ben Jonson :)**

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 3:

Klaus was seated near the lit fireplace, a glass of red wine in his right hand and a random young woman was playing Bach for him beautifully on the grand piano when I entered the living room. I bit my lip nervously, because now he knew that I had left anyway and I feared that I was going to see the fearsome side of Klaus that he showed when I attacked him.

"Please leave us, Camille…" he said without turning his gaze from the burning fire.

I watched as the young woman stopped playing and left the living room, giving me an idea that might help me make Klaus less angry with me. I took a seat at the piano and began playing a song of my own, which my father had told me to make so he could see whether or not my piano lessons had been worth every penny. I noticed a smile appear on his lips as he listened to the beautiful melody, looking pleased for the moment.

"Sing for me."

I stopped playing and looked confusedly at him. "You want me to… sing? What if I cannot sing at all? Do you really dare to take that risk?" I asked teasingly.

Klaus chuckled and finally looked at me, his eyes glistening in the light of the fire. "I am quite confident that you can sing beautifully." he said.

I could sing somewhat decently, but I rarely sung for anyone, because I always found it very… embarrassing and especially to more than one person. My father once told me to sing at Stefan's birthday in front of our relatives and family friends, and I became so terrified that I fainted. But I took a deep breath and began playing another song as I sung as good as I could to Klaus.

"_Drink to me only with thine eyes/and I will pledge with mine. Or leave a kiss within the cup/and I'll not ask for wine. The thirst that from the soul doth rise/Doth ask a drink divine; but might I of Jove's nectar sip, I would not change for thine…_"

I noticed that the smile on his lips widened a bit and he looked at me in a way that made my cheeks turn rosy of embarrassment. He left his chair and walked up to me, taking a seat next to me as I continued to sing the ballad that was about keeping your eyes or being in love with only one, but that wasn't all it was about.

It was also about a man wishing a kiss or the presence of the woman he loved more than he wanted to taste the most divine wine. I once told this to Damon and he merely laughed and said that he would rather taste the divine wine than getting a simple kiss. Stefan on the other hand, understood the meaning of the song even though he was only 12 years old when I told him about it.

"_I sent thee late a rosy wreath, not so much hon'ring thee/As giving it a hope that there/It could not withered be; but thou thereon did'st only breathe, and sent'st it back to me, since when it grows and smells, I swear/not of itself, but thee._"

As I finished I felt Klaus take my hand in his and lead it to his lips to kiss, making my already red cheeks become warm and my heart beating faster. I thought about the way we had kissed earlier today and how he had made me feel. It was odd of me to have that sort of feelings for a man so quickly, but it felt right and I wanted to learn more about him.

"I have two younger brothers," I said and began playing random, but beautiful notes. "I don't know if I will ever be able to face them again… especially like this."

"You could always use compulsion on them if you really want to see them without them knowing what you are," he said. "Sadly, I cannot do the same. My six other siblings… we are not ordinary vampires and I am far from normal compared to them."

I stopped playing and looked wonderingly at him. "How so?"

He took a sip of his wine glass which he had brought with him and then handed it to me to let me have some too. It helped warming my cold body and the taste was absolutely wonderful… like an old and very expensive bottle of red wine from France.

"Well… my siblings and I are Originals, which means that we are the very first vampires ever created. From us all vampires were created, but… I am not just an Original. Have you ever heard about werewolves before?"

I gasped. "Are werewolves real too?"

He grinned. "Very much, love. However, it is hard to find them nowadays because their mortal enemies the vampires have killed nearly every one of them. But before the feud between the vampires and werewolves started we used to live with them in peace. Unfortunately that also meant that my… mother had fallen in love with one of them and thus I was created."

Now I was really puzzled. "So you are a werewolf? But how can you be that when you are a vampire?"

He took his glass back and downed the last of it, then began playing a happy tune. "I am both, Althea. Half vampire and half werewolf… you should feel honored. Not many young vampires like yourself live to hear about this, but I find you very… interesting. You have a fire inside you that I have never seen in a female vampire before."

I didn't know whether to thank him or run away, because not only was I sitting with one of the very first vampires, but he was a sort of… of… hybrid. He was a mixture of the two races that were trying to kill each other, so one of them could be the one to control the humans.

"How long has this feud been going on?" I asked curiously.

"About 800 years now. It began when my dear… _father_ found out about what I was. You see, he hated werewolves already for killing my younger brother Henrick during a full moon and when he learned that my mother had been unfaithful to him he went… ballistic to say the least. He hunted down and killed all the werewolves in our village – including my real father and his family."

"Dear God! How awful! You must hate him-no, _hate_ cannot describe what you must feel towards him."

Klaus nodded in agreement and stopped playing. "I could tell you the rest of the story, but I need you to swear to me that you will help me do what I am planning to do. You must forever be faithful to me no matter what… yes?" he said.

I hesitated, because I didn't know what he could possibly want me to do and to whom. I might love killing people, but I had no idea of how far I could go with these new powers. But I still nodded, because somewhere inside me I wanted to help me. He was like a bird with a broken wing and it was my duty to aid him until his "wing" was healed. After all, he did give me my freedom…

"Good, but I believe it is time for you to rest now. It has been a long day and you must be exhausted. I will tell you the rest tomorrow. I promise." he said, kissing my hand gently.

I took him by surprise by wrapping my arms around him and giving him a passionate kiss. I wanted to thank him for being so open to a person he had only known for barely a day and for all the other things he had done for me.

Klaus held his own arms around me for a bit longer time as if he didn't want to let go of me just yet and kissed me with such passion, such tenderness that I nearly gave in for the temptation of giving him the only thing that had remained pure in me.

"Goodnight, Klaus." I said softly, smiling weakly before I left.

I heard calm and soothing music play as I walked upstairs to my bedroom and it sounded so sad that I for a moment stopped to think about my brothers. I wondered what my father had told them and if they had even opened their letter I left them.

Had my father told them that I ran away?

What was William even thinking?

And would I ever be able to face any of them again?

I had trouble falling asleep that night and ended up lying awake for almost two dreadful hours, because I kept thinking about my family. I therefore decided to go to Klaus' bedroom down the hall and crept up next to him in his bed as he was busy sleeping. I didn't bother to wake him up, because it was already very inappropriate of me to be in here in the first place, so I didn't need to give him anymore inappropriate thoughts that could lead us to lewd activities.

However, I soon fell asleep too as I lay next to him and enjoyed the warmth of his bare skin against my own as well as the sound of him sleeping peacefully. We both slept undisturbed throughout the entire night and by the time morning came once again I found myself lying in the bed alone. My eyes fluttered open the second I realized this and I looked confusedly around, finding Klaus seated on a chair by the window with a cup of tea in his hand this time, looking at me with a bright smile.

"It is rather rude to stare, Klaus," I said teasingly and turned around to lie on my left side, my head resting on my hand. "Is Klaus a German name? It sounds German…"

"No, or… well, it's short for Niklaus, which is a Germanic name. And no, you may not call me Niklaus. I hate that name." he said, wrinkling his nose in disgust.

I smirked. "That is truly a shame, _Niklaus, _for I actually like it. My own name is Italian and so are my brothers and father's name."

Klaus rolled his eyes and put the cup on the table next to him, so he could walk up to me and give me a sweet kiss. I grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him down on me, deepening the kiss for a few minutes before surprising him by pushing him off the bed.

"Now that is not very polite, Thea," he said, resting his arms on the edge of the bed. "You better behave or I will compel you to be my maid for the rest of the day. That is one of the benefits of being an Original."

I snorted. "I do not believe you. Vampires cannot compel other vampires…" I said.

"Watch me..." His pupils suddenly began dilating and I felt myself fall into a trance-like state. "I want you to take off your chemise."

I blinked once and suddenly found myself getting out of the bed, about to take off my chemise. My eyes widened in horror of what I was about to do and I tried resisting the compulsion, but it was too strong for me.

"Klaus! Stop it! I believe you!" I said as the hem of my chemise was near my waist.

He just grinned and crawled back up on the bed, leaning back to watch the show. "Oh, I really don't know if I want to do that… You did push me off the bed and tease me."

My face became completely flushed as I felt the hem go higher and higher, but just before it reached my waist Klaus suddenly stood before me and told me to not to do it, which I gladly obeyed.

"I believe there is something you ought to say to me now." He grinned mischievously, clearly enjoying tormenting me like this.

"Yes, there is actually. You, my friend, are an utter moron!" I turned and walked back to my bedroom to get dressed before Klaus made me take my chemise off anyway.

The next time I saw Klaus that day was after I had been helped in to a beautiful forest green dress that complemented my eyes and my hair had been twisted and curled, so I looked decent in his presence. But I was starting to get hungry for more than just ordinary food, so I might have taken a few bites of one of the maids before I went downstairs… oops!

Since the poor maid unfortunately died of the blood loss I quickly pushed her in to an empty wardrobe in one of the other bedrooms, praying to God that he wouldn't find her...

**Thanks for reading and please review! :D**


	5. Two Brothers

**A/N: Hii, thanks for the wonderful reviews, faves and alerts! :D**

**I wasn't really going to update today, but I was meant to go to the cinema and drool over Joseph Morgan in the movie "Immortals", however the part of Denmark I live in is sadly hit with wind as about as strong as a hurricane (again this month), so I'm stuck at home... **-_-' ** Hopefully the wind won't affect the internet connection, because I'm thinking about writing another chap ;) -_-' **

**Anyway, enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 4:

Two months had passed since I died.

I was still trying to adjust to being a vampire and although Klaus never scolded me for other than occasionally killing his maids or not being too careful when I used my powers outside, then I was nothing was worrying me anymore besides that I missed my brothers and even my father. I had asked Klaus if we could go pay them a visit, but he said that he had unfinished business in New York, so I went with him and decided to visit my family later.

As for Elijah, then I had not seen him ever since that day at the jewelry shop. I figured that reason why I couldn't find him was because he had to leave, but I hoped that I would meet him again soon, because he had been on my mind lately and I wanted to get those lessons from him since Klaus was very occupied most of the time. He only had time to convince me into sleeping with him, but no matter how hard he tried then I never gave in.

I did feel strong feelings for him, yes, but I didn't trust him completely to give away the only thing that was pure about me. He could be so very persistent at times, but he was still sweet towards me and didn't expect anything from me other than I was myself and acted like _I_ wanted to do.

However, as I was one day walking through the streets of New York I spotted a familiar man with oak brown hair, brown eyes and prominent cheekbones and I felt myself become happier than I thought I would be. I tried sneaking up on him, but he turned around just as I was standing behind him, making me sigh of disappointment.

"A good gentleman would have let a woman scare him," I said teasingly. "What on earth are you doing here in New York, Mr. Smith?"

Elijah smiled and kissed my hand gently, making my heart beat a little faster. "I apologize for leaving Georgia so soon and then without notice, but I have been looking for a particular vampire here. Unfortunately she seemed to have left a few days ago." he said.

"Oh… well, I am happy I ran in to you then. Especially since you owe me some lessons."

Elijah frowned. "Has Klaus not taught you anything?"

I sighed and shook my head. "He is too busy to do that and wants me to do whatever I want to."

He closed his eyes for a moment and seemed extremely annoyed, but he relaxed and offered to take my hand. He ushered me to a beautiful house nearby where he seemed to be living with a human couple. After being invited inside by the couple I was led to the study room and he told one of the servants to bring us tea.

"Where is Klaus now?" he asked as we sat down in the armchairs of the room.

"'Taking care of a few loose ends' or so he said. He is a very secretive vampire…" I answered and shook my head lightly. "But how do you even know Klaus? Have you met him before?"

Elijah nodded. "He… and I used to work together in the past, but we don't anymore."

"Oh… I see. Is he always like this? So wild and…"

"Exasperating? Yes, he has."

I giggled and took a sip of the tea as it was finally brought to us. I could taste a small amount of blood in it and it made the tea look auburn. I placed my teacup on the table before me and took a look around in the study room. I wanted to know more about Elijah, but this wasn't his house and perhaps neither his hometown.

"My compulsion skills have gradually become better since the last time we met," I said. "But I still have trouble figuring out who is on vervain and who is not."

"That can be very tricky for vampires sometimes, but most of the time you can smell it in their breath or on their skin. Wait here and I will show you how to distinguish it from a person's scent." Elijah said.

He left the study room for a few minutes and when he returned he was accompanied by the lady of the house, who seemed like she was in a bit of a daze. I figured that she was under his compulsion and walked up to them, taking in the scent of her skin and smelling what I thought was a very expensive perfume.

"Elizabeth here is currently not on vervain, so notice what she smells like now." he said.

I did as told and then Elijah called the man's name, making him come inside the study with a beautiful bottle of perfume. He ordered the man – Michael – to spray some vervain on his wife and after he'd done so I could actually smell the change in her scent. It smelled a bit like… salt and made me want to bite her even though she was poisonous to me.

"Do you see the difference?" he asked.

I nodded and walked up to Michael, who was waiting for more orders from Elijah. He smelled normal, but I could smell a faint scent of vervain in his breath.

"This man is also on vervain." I stated more than asked.

Elijah smiled. "Precisely. Albeit, not enough to keep him from following my orders or for an old vampire to compel him."

"Now I understand. Thank you very much, Elijah. You make an excellent teacher."

The smile on his lips widened and he ordered the couple to leave and then walked up to me with a look in his eyes that made my heart flutter lightly. I had no idea of how he was able to make me feel this way, but a part of me felt guilty about it since I was in a sort of relationship with Klaus.

"Excuse me for asking, but what is a decent and mature young woman doing with someone like Klaus? Why have you not left him yet?" he asked curiously.

"I…" I didn't know actually. I had done enough for Klaus as payment for turning me into a vampire and didn't have to stay with him. But I did like him a lot and a part of me was afraid of returning in fear of what my family might say. "I cannot go back and I don't know where to begin my journey."

Elijah nodded understandingly. "I apologize for being so nosy. I am merely trying to figure out what to think of you."

I giggled. "So am I, Elijah. You seem like a very secretive, but kind gentleman. I appreciate your all your help and of course for your company."

He smiled and kissed my hand softly. "That is very kind of you to say, but I believe it is soon time for you to return. Klaus probably awaits you."

I nodded and after drinking the last of my tea Elijah made a coachman drive me home. It had been a brief meeting with him, but I was content of being able to talk with him at all, because he reminded me of my old and human life.

However, I didn't regret becoming a vampire and was also happy to see Klaus when I finally arrived at our new home. He was playing a lovely song on the piano, so I walked up behind him and wrapped my arms around his neck from behind, kissing him softly on his cheek.

"Welcome home, sweetheart," Klaus said, smiling brightly. "Did you buy anything?"

"No, but it doesn't matter," I said, sitting down next to him. "I missed you. Aren't you soon done with your secret plans?"

He chuckled, but shook his head and pushed me down on the bench with his elbows resting at each side of my head. He kissed me for a moment and I could feel that his patience was starting to lose up, which only amused me immensely.

"Klaus, I've been thinking a bit lately…" I said between the passionate kisses. "Who or what exactly are you looking for? I need to know or else…"

"Or else what?" Klaus had suddenly stopped kissing me and was looking in my eyes with a serious expression on his face.

"Or else I'm going my own way. I want to see the world and experience everything there is to experience. Besides… you don't seem like you need me anyway. You never take me anywhere."

His facial expression softened and he looked like he was considering something. He suddenly nodded and the hint of a smile appeared on his face.

"Very well, I suppose I could tell you the more. You remember when I told you that I was cursed?" he asked.

I nodded. "By your own mother Esther." I said.

He nodded too and sat up, pulling me up on his lap. "She sacrificed this girl my oldest brother and I were both in love with and according to what I've heard, then I need to find a doppelganger of this girl, whom I have to use when I break my curse. I found this doppelganger in 1492 and was ready to break my curse when my foolish brother, who had fallen for her as well, allowed her to flee and she became a vampire, thus I could not use her anymore. She also took a moonstone from me, which was used to curse me and which I need to break the curse."

"Oh… and you wish to get the stone back?"

"Correct, but I also want revenge for what she did to me. I have tracked her to New York, but it seems she left a few days ago…"

My eyes widened as I realized something very important. Elijah had told me that he was looking for someone too – a girl – who had left a few days ago and now Klaus told me the same thing.

Could it be that they were looking for the same girl?

And if so, did that then mean that Elijah was… Klaus' older brother?

"What? Do you know something?" Klaus asked.

I tried getting off his lap, but he held me firmly and looked at me as if he was going to kill me if I didn't tell him the truth.

"I… um… I think I might have met your brother today. Is his name Elijah?" I answered.

Klaus didn't answer, but let out a deep growl and left the living room in a hurry, looking more than just infuriated. Had I known that Elijah was Klaus' brother, then I would never have told him anything about Klaus' whereabouts or that he was up to something, but I couldn't help but wonder if I was on the right side in this little war between the two brothers.

Perhaps I should never have–

"_Althea!_" Klaus called sternly.

I went out to him and found him packing his things rapidly in our bedroom. He was leaving again, but was he going to take me with him? I soon found my answer, because Klaus grabbed me by my shoulders and forced me to look into his eyes as his pupils dilated.

"I want you to forget about me until I say so," he said. "Do whatever you want to do, but be careful and do not tell Elijah that I left if he asks about me. One more thing… I hope I will see you again soon, Thea. And when we do I promise you that I will love you higher than any man has done. You are a ripper and belong with me… never forget that."

I blinked and suddenly found myself standing alone, feeling this strange urge to go somewhere unknown and discover everything that was hidden to me. But first there was something I needed to do.

I needed to see Elijah.

**Thanks for reading and please review! :D**


	6. The Fear

**A/N: And a new chap is up ;) Thanks for the reviews, faves and alerts! :D**

**This chap will be the last one in 1862, so now we'll finally be moving forward to 2011 ;D**

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 5:

"Althea? What are you doing here so late?" Elijah asked worriedly.

"I… I don't know. I just needed to see you." I answered and stepped inside the house.

He closed the door and helped me take off my coat, then ushered me in to the study room where we could talk alone. He looked like he did when I left, except now he didn't wear his jacket anymore and his sleeves were pushed up to his elbows. We sat near the fireplace and I held my hands out to warm them up from the cold outside.

"Althea, is something wrong? You seem… distrait."

"Huh? Oh, I…" I tugged a stray of my curly hair behind my ear and walked up to him. He looked so tall in the dim light and almost frightening, but alluring as well. "I want to… be here. With you. And… I was hoping that you would let me accompany you on your journey."

Elijah looked confusedly at me for a few minutes, but then something suddenly dawned to him and he cupped my face in his hands. His hands felt so warm against my cold cheeks and reminded me of someone I couldn't seem to remember.

"Did Klaus compel you?"

I frowned. "Who?"

He sighed and muttered something I couldn't make out what was. "Do you remember anything from after you were turned into a vampire?"

I tried remembering how I even became a vampire, but I couldn't and that startled me. I eventually shook my head and sighed too. "I only remember you… and that I want to be here with you."

Elijah leaned in and for a moment I hoped that he would kiss me on my lips, but he kissed me softly on my forehead instead and then let go of my face. I reached out for his hand and placed a kiss on the back of it, making him smile weakly.

"Please, Elijah. I have nowhere else to go. I can help you find whoever you are looking for."

"Hmm… okay, but this means that you will be trained by me the next couple of months or perhaps even years. We'll see."

I smiled sweetly. "Thank you. I will not disappoint you."

He didn't comment on that, but merely looked at me for a long time, until he suddenly leaned in again and placed a soft kiss on my lips. It felt strange to feel his lips on my own, but why that was I didn't know. I just felt like I was doing something wrong and that I was forgetting someone important in my life. Still, I wanted to kiss him, so I wrapped my arms around him and let him pull me closer to him, our lips touching each other tenderly.

"Come with me," he said as our kiss finally ended. I took his hand in mine and followed him upstairs to the many bedrooms. We stopped outside one of them that looked like a guestroom and it had already been filled with some of my things by the human couple. "This will be your new bedroom, but if you need anything then please let me know. My room is right across yours."

I nodded understandingly and thanked him by giving him a kiss on his cheek, then walked in to my new bedroom and unpacked my few belongings. I wondered how my life would be like while living with another vampire and then a man, but I supposed it was better than any other life.

After unpacking I went downstairs and took a look around in the house now that I had the chance, finding something in the living room that made me stop walking abruptly and stare. It was a piano that looked almost like the one in my old home and it reminded me about… about…

"Urgh!" I groaned loudly, infuriated by the sudden loss of my memory.

"_It will come to you… eventually,_" Elijah said, stepping in to the living room. I turned and saw that he held a glass of red wine mixed with blood. He handed it to me and I didn't taste human blood in it, but something else… something different. "Animal blood. Or more precisely – deer blood."

"Animal blood? You can drink that too and still live forever?" I asked curiously.

Elijah nodded. "I know a few vampires, who strictly only drinks animal blood. I do not, but I do enjoy it sometimes with a glass of wine." he answered.

"Hmm… I don't think I would be able to live on animal blood forever. I like-no, _love_ blood. But this does taste quite good."

He smiled and fetched another glass for himself with red wine and animal blood, and then sat down on the expensive and French-looking chaise longue. I took another sip of my own and walked over to the lit fireplace in the room. I felt a strong longing for someone dear to me, but this time I knew exactly who I was longing for. It was my brothers.

"I cannot go back to my brothers," I said quietly. "They probably hate me."

"If they do they should be ashamed of themselves," Elijah said. "I have many siblings too and although I dislike some of them for the choices they have made, then I could truly never hate them. Especially not my younger sister Rebekah."

I looked at Elijah and could see the sadness in his dark eyes and wondered if my brothers felt the same way about me. There had been times where I had hated Damon and we had argued for what felt like days or ignored each other for almost a week, but by the end of the day one of us had always apologized and we became friends again.

I had never had a serious argument with Stefan, but there were times were we did disagree with certain things. I missed talking with him about love, romances and life in general. He was a very bright boy despite his young age and had inherited this side from our mother. Perhaps I should write them a letter and let them know that I was alive…

"I need to write to them," I said and was startled by how close Elijah had been standing to me all this time. He looked worried and was holding my glass of wine, which I hadn't even notice him take from me. "May I please borrow your study room?"

"Certainly, but–" He gave me another soft kiss on my lips that made me relax and smile. "You are not alone, Althea. I understand what you are going through and I promise you – things will get better. You just have to be patient."

I grinned. "Patience is not a word I know, but I will try."

I gave him one last kiss before I went to the study room to write the letter. I wasn't sure about what to write, but I started out by writing that I was seeing the world as I wanted to. I then wrote that I missed them very much and that I hoped they would be able to forgive me someday for what I did. At last I wrote that they should follow their dreams too instead of following our father's orders all the time, because they deserved to be happy as I somewhat was right now.

I decided that that was enough for now and placed the letter in an envelope, writing down the address of my former home, so it would be sent to the right place tomorrow morning. I sighed and sat staring at the envelope for the next couple of minutes, wondering what to do now that I was a vampire. I could go wherever I wanted to and only had to ask Elijah one simple question.

"Klaus…" I said quietly, trying hard to remember his face, his voice and what we did in our time together. "I… want to remember you."

More minutes passed by without anything and I therefore decided to give up. I left the letter on the desk and went to my bedroom, deciding to go to bed and rest after everything that had happened today. A servant helped me out of my dress and as I sat on my bed in my chemise I felt someone wrap his arms around me, but when I turned around I saw that I was completely alone in there.

Perhaps I was starting to remember _something_…

I shook my head and blew the candlelight out, then crawled under the warm covers and lay in the darkness, wide awake and unable to sleep. I tried turning around, but it didn't help that much and neither did closing my eyes. I sat up and looked towards the doorway where Elijah stood, watching me with that usual worried expression of his.

"It would be very indecent of me to ask you to sleep next to me…" I said. "But you don't strike me as the type, who only sees girls as objects, so…"

Elijah smiled weakly and scratched his cheek, looking thoughtful for a moment. "I must admit that you are one of the first decent girls I have ever met, who has invited me to sleep with her without actually… well, sleeping with her."

I blushed. "I hate sleeping alone. I always have. It makes me feel like… like I'm all alone in this wide world. Don't you ever feel that way?"

"All the time." He undressed, but kept his undergarment on and crawled under the warm covers.

I crept closer to him and rested my head on his broad shoulder, enjoying his presence and the feeling of his body close to mine. He gazed at me like… like someone else had done not so long ago and gently stroked my cheek in a very soothing way that made me sleepy.

"You never told me who you are looking for or why…" I said, wanting to stay up late and talk with him instead of sleeping.

"Well… there is this vampire named Katerina Petrova, who is on the run from Klaus and I. She took a moonstone that belongs to us and I want it back before Klaus gets it, so I can kill him. He may not break his curse, you see." Elijah said.

Curse…? Moonstone? Katerina Petrova? It all sounded familiar, but I was having a hard time connecting the things.

"Which kind of curse is it? And why was he cursed to begin with?"

Elijah sighed. "That's a very long story. But you don't need to worry about all those things. All you need to worry about is your own safety."

I nodded understandingly and didn't ask any more to that, but tried getting some sleep. I eventually fell asleep and that night I dreamt about going home. I saw Stefan waiting for me by the door, a wide grin on his young face and his hair tangled as usual from too many brotherly fights.

And then I saw Damon stepping out from a room, spotting me and his eyes turning wide as teacups. But then he suddenly scowled at me and he yanked Stefan back inside, slamming the front door shut and keeping me outside.

I tried calling their names, but they ignored me so I went to the backdoor only to find that door locked as well. I then turned around and saw my father standing before me, scowling and raising his hand slowly as if he was going to hit me. I closed my eyes and expected to feel him hit me, but instead I woke up gasping in the bed with a sleeping Elijah lying next to me.

I couldn't go back.

No matter how much I tried to justify my actions and claim that what I did was right, then they might not be so forgiving. They might not even want to remember me.

"Althea," Elijah said suddenly, sitting up too. His dark hair was tangled and he looked sleepy. I wanted to run my fingers through his hair and I did, but he caught me by my wrist and moved my hand down a little, looking into my eyes with a stern look in his eyes. "You were merely dreaming."

"I know, I know," I said and sighed heavily. "Will the fear ever go away? Will I ever be able to face my family before they die or grow old, while I remain like…" I gestured at my body. "… this."

"It won't go away before you confront it, but you need to remember that you are still emotionally unbalanced. I will help you control your emotions, but it will take time…" He cupped my face in his hands and gave me a passionate kiss that made me calm down. "Sleep, Althea. Get some rest."

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	7. Mystic Falls

**A/N: Hii, thanks for the lovely reviews, faves and alerts! :D**

**If I get 3-5 reviews I'll upload another chap tonight/tomorrow morning ;)**

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 6:

**Paris, 2011**

The poor young man let out his final breath and all tension in his muscles disappeared, turning his body limp under me. I let go of his neck and sat up, wiping the drops of blood off the corners of my mouth, wondering if anyone was going to miss him.

He was an ex-convict and had recently been released from prison when I caught him trying to rape a young woman and… well, I couldn't let that happen. I'd spent too much time with Elijah and heard years of rambling on and on about honor that I could practically finish most of Elijah's sentences as he was halfway through saying it – especially those that were about moral and honor.

It had been about 70 years or more since I last talked with the man, because we parted in just before the Second World War started. I wanted to stay in Spain, while Elijah continued his search for his murderous brother in England. We had talked a few times over the phone, but it was briefly and mostly about whether he needed my assistance or not in finding his brother.

Now I'd ended up in France and was enjoying being a vampire as much as Elijah's _Code of Honor_ allowed me. I still thought about him whenever I lay alone in a random bed in a random hotel and random country, but I knew that the two of us would never become anything more than perhaps friends with benefits.

He always pushed me away whenever we got too close to each other and treated me as a friend for reasons I didn't know even though it was obvious to me that he liked me as much as I liked him. I just hoped that he someday would let me into his heart and if not… then I was somewhat fine on my own. I still hated to sleep alone, but the fear of being hated by my brothers was gone. I knew that they were both probably dead by now and had been for a long time, unless–

The sound of my cell phone ringing startled me slightly, but I stepped off the dead guy and went to get it from my purse. I looked at the caller ID and frowned when I saw that it was an unknown number, but I remembered that Elijah sometimes bought new phones, so I guessed it was him.

"Bonjour," I said in fluent French. "Est-ce vous, Elly?"

"_No, far from it,_" I heard a familiar voice say. "_It's me, Klaus. You are allowed to remember everything about me now and I strongly suggest that you pay me a visit in our old hometown_."

I dropped the phone and gasped as I saw flashbacks of Klaus and I together. I saw him rescue me the night I ran away, saw him kiss me for the first time and felt him hold me in his arms as he whispered sweet things in my ear. I quickly hung up and stared at the phone for a moment as if it was a ticking bomb just waiting to explode at any minute.

Klaus… my dear Niklaus…

I swiftly packed all of my belongings into one duffle bag and left the motel without waking up the sleeping manager. I had no idea of why I would go back when I remembered everything about Klaus + what Elijah had told me about him, but I wanted to see him so badly.

So I jumped on the first plane to Virginia and after hours of being so restless that I ended up drinking the blood of a stewardess halfway during the trip (sorry, Elijah!) and as soon as I got to Virginia I snatched the first car I saw, driving faster than the law allowed. I was tempted to call Klaus back to hear what he exactly wanted me, but I couldn't make myself press the dial button.

It was morning by the time I finally arrived in Mystic Falls, but I was too distraught by the fact that Klaus had _called _me after 149 years of being apart. Only God knew how he looked now and how he acted, and I wondered what he would say when he saw me. I wasn't exactly wearing a big and fluffy dress anymore and nowadays women (me too) acted much different from the 19th century.

Mystic Falls' women and men weren't the only things that had changed rapidly through the years, but one thing I immediately noticed was how different the town itself looked now. I stopped for a moment and was dazed by the sight. There were modern shops, restaurants, malls, and everything else I'd seen in other ordinary towns – something I now knew I wasn't used to at all.

I gulped and stepped out of the car, taking a look around and noticing a restaurant where my old favorite dressmaker used to be that was named the Mystic Grill. I walked inside; hell-bent on getting a strong drink that could soothe my nerves and calm my impulsiveness down.

I occupied the last vacant seat at the bar and compelled one of the bartenders to give me a free glass of Brandy, then took a look around in the bar. It was filled with unfamiliar faces and luckily Klaus wasn't there. I didn't know what I would have done if I saw him here. I didn't want to meet him, but another part of me did and it was the ripper inside me that had made me come here.

"_I thought you might come..._" Klaus said, slipping his arms around me from behind.

I felt my heart beat a little faster and it wasn't just because I'd missed him. I turned hesitantly around and faced the man who once turned me. There was something about him that made the hairs in the back of my neck stand up and I felt the need to run away from him.

He'd changed in more than one way.

"Why did you make me forget you?" I asked – something that had been on my mind during the entire trip to Virginia.

"Because I was trying to protect you," he answered bluntly and ordered the man who was sitting beside me to go away.

He occupied the now vacant seat and ordered himself a glass of Bourbon. I took a long look at him and it amazed me to see how much he'd changed in style and in looks. His hair was shorter and he wore a lot of dark clothes, making him look like a vampire you didn't want to mess with.

"And I knew that Elijah wouldn't hurt you. I'd seen how he looked at you when you went to see him after I'd compelled you."

I sighed and felt very lightheaded all of a sudden. In the time I had been away from Klaus I had grown fond of Elijah and now that Klaus was back he made me feel like I did when we first kissed. I felt Klaus place his hand on my thigh and the touch of his hand sent a tingle of old excitement through my body that I had missed feeling.

"Why now? Why not 50 years ago?" I asked.

Klaus took my hand to his lips and as he kissed gently I saw his eyes flash dark yellow, making me wince and nearly fall off my chair. Those eyes… they were the eyes of a werewolf-no, a _hybrid_. I took a deep breath and tried processing what I now knew.

"When?" was the only thing I could ask.

"About two months ago," he answered and smiled. "I found the second doppelganger, my moonstone and… voila! Now I'm a hybrid. But… there is still something that's bothering me. You see, it can become very lonely to be the only hybrid around and even though I have created more like me, then I do miss your company. I miss my little ripper."

I couldn't stop myself from smirking. "Is that so? Well, I'm sorry to say that I don't do what others want me to do anymore, unless I want to do what they ask me of."

He chuckled. "What if I tell you that your brothers are still very much alive? Or well, at least as alive as vampires can be."

My eyes widened in shock and I stood waiting for Klaus to laugh and tell me that it was all just a joke, but it never came. He was being honest with me and that meant that my brothers truly were vampires… like me. I didn't know whether to be scared or happy about it, because I knew that they wouldn't forget about what I'd done just like that.

"Where are they? Are they here?" I asked worriedly.

"I'll be happy to take you to them, but first I need you to promise one thing for me," he answered and took a swig of his drink. "Join me and turn into the ripper you truly are."

I downed my drink and covered my eyes with my hands, trying to think properly. It had been a long time since I had ripped anyone apart like I did back in 1862, but it wasn't as if I didn't miss letting go of my inhibitions, but I remembered Elijah's plan to kill Klaus and felt like I was betraying him.

"For how long? Weeks? Months?"

"Forever."

I removed the hands from my eyes and looked at him, unable to speak or think properly. I wanted to say yes so badly, but I knew that there would be consequences.

"Okay…" I sighed. "I'll help you. But promise me that you will help me protect my brothers if anything happens. I don't want them to get hurt."

Klaus' jaw became tense for a moment and I noticed that he clenched his left fist too, but he smiled and nodded reluctantly. It made me wonder if anything had happened between him and one of my brothers and if so, then what?

"I don't know where Stefan is currently hiding after he _stole_ all of my siblings, but Damon should be at the Salvatore Boarding House now."

I frowned. "The Salvatore Boarding House? Did they build another house?"

Klaus nodded and suddenly leaned forward; kissing me passionately and making my heart beat faster. I instinctively wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him back, wanting so badly to jump on him right then and there.

Luckily Klaus pulled away just before it became too heated between us and I saw a familiar mischievous smirk on his lips. He cupped my face in his hands and stroked my cheeks gently; making me forget all the bad things I had heard about him.

"Go see your brothers," he said. "But meet me at the high school carnival tomorrow night. There's something more I need to tell you."

"You and me at a high school carnival? Dear God that can only mean trouble!" I said and laughed.

Klaus nodded, gave me one last kiss and then left the Grill. I stood still for a moment and just stared at the entrance Klaus had walked out of, the touch of his lips still lingering on mine. I sighed and sat down on the barstool again, asking for a refill. I raised the glass to my lips, but just as I took a sip of the Brandy I suddenly heard another familiar voice and froze on the spot.

"_You really think he's hiding them there?_" a girl said.

"_Most likely, but you never know with Stefan. One minute he's ripperish and the next he does something like this,_" I heard Damon say. "_I bet it won't be long before Klaus does something stupid to retaliate._"

I looked carefully over my shoulder and saw a two years older-looking Damon dressed in a black leather jacket, black shirt and dark trousers walk towards the bar, his sky-blue eyes locked on a girl, whom I guessed was the second doppelganger. She certainly looked completely like Katherine, who I was so lucky to meet by accident in Chicago 90 years ago.

Damon's gaze suddenly turned to the bar and he spotted me looking at him. He stopped walking abruptly and I saw his face turn pale as if he'd seen a ghost, which he almost had since he probably thought that I died that night I ran away. I never sent the letter to him and Stefan as I planned to, because I was certain that they were better off without me.

"Damon, what's wrong?" the girl asked worriedly. "You know her?"

He snorted, but nodded and said: "Oh, I know her alright…"

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	8. The Originals

**A/N: Hii, thanks for the fast reviews, faves and alerts! :D**

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 7:

"Damon." I said as he walked up to me.

"Althea," he said with venom in his voice. It was clear to me that he did remember what I did and he hated me just like I feared. "You've got a lot of nerves coming back here. Especially as a vampire."

I rolled my eyes. "Didn't you read the letter and diary I left for you?"

Damon suddenly frowned. "What diary and letter? The only thing I know about your disappearance is from what Dad told us. He said that you left to see William in the middle of the night and died during the blizzard, but apparently you're not dead as we thought."

I frowned now, but then I began thinking. Our father had seen me flee and since only he knew that I had ashamed our family by doing so he must have covered it all up. I sighed heavily and didn't know how to tell Damon this. For 149 years he'd thought that I was dead and now I was here. He wanted an explanation for why I never contacted him or went back before now.

"Perhaps it's best if we talk about this at home," I said. "Is the estate still here?"

Damon shook his head. "It was destroyed after the Battle of Willow Creek. I live in the Salvatore Boarding House now." he said.

"Oh… I see." I sighed. It was tough to hear that the home you grew up in and lived in for 21 years had been destroyed.

"_Um, Damon?_" the doppelganger said hesitantly.

We both looked at her and I could see Damon's cheeks turn slightly rosy. I guessed that he hadn't told her about me and he wasn't too happy about telling it now, so I stepped forward and shook her hand as I introduced myself.

"Hi, I'm Althea Salvatore – Damon's older sister." I said.

Her eyes widened in shock and she looked more confused than ever. Damon just shrugged and looked very uncomfortable.

"You never told me that you have a sister. Neither did Stefan!" she said, sounding slightly annoyed.

"Yeah, about that… We both thought that Althea here was dead for 149 years and not a vampire, who… wait a minute. How _did_ you become a vampire?" Damon said wonderingly.

I opened my mouth to answer, but decided not to answer that right now. "Let's just go to the boarding house, shall we?"

He looked suspiciously at me for a moment, but we left the Grill and drove to the boarding house that was located near Wickery Bridge. It was strange not to be able to see my old home, but as we walked inside I could see that they'd kept some of the old furniture and the interior itself reminded me of the Salvatore Estate. We walked in to the living room and Damon filled two glasses with Scotch, handing one of them to me.

"What ever happened with Dad? Did he… die?" I asked worriedly.

"Stefan staked him," Damon answered bluntly. "But to fair then he did shoot us."

I sat down on the couch before I was going to faint and tried understanding why our father would shoot them. I knew that he had a restrained relationship with Damon, but… really? Shoot them?

"To make a long story short, then Stefan and I fell in love with Katherine Pierce aka Katerina Petrova, who's the first doppelganger. Dad found out that she was a vampire and we tried rescuing her, so he became furious and shot us. With Katherine's blood in our system we turned into a vampire and… well, here we are. Now tell me what happened that night you left."

I sighed. "You won't like it, but… I left because I didn't want to marry William. I was scared that I was going to end up miserable and sad, so I left in the middle of the night. But something happened to the carriage and it crashed. I wouldn't have survived if Klaus hadn't saved me."

"Wait-what? As in the Original-freak-of-nature-Klaus?"

I grimaced, but nodded. "He took me to his home in Macon and revealed that he was a vampire. At first I tried escaping, but… he caught me and turned me into a vampire. I'm happy that he did, though, because I finally got to do what _I_ wanted to do. Surely, you must have seen how unhappy I was with William and whenever Dad told me to do something I didn't want to do."

Damon didn't say anything, but just took a large swig of his drink. He reminded me a lot about myself and even though he looked and acted differently, then he was still my fun-loving and charming little brother, who always got himself in trouble. I placed my glass on the table and went to him, embracing him much to his surprise. It felt good to hug him after so many years and I could feel that he'd missed me a lot as he finally embraced me too.

"How much do you know about Klaus and the Originals?" he asked as we broke the hug.

"I know that he's a hybrid, that he's spent a thousand years trying to break a curse his mother put on him, that he has six siblings who are all Originals and that he's trying to create an army of hybrids. I just don't understand the whole thing about Stefan stealing his siblings."

"This is where it all gets complicated," Elena said. "When Klaus came and broke his curse Damon was bitten by a werewolf. He was dying and Klaus had the only cure, so Stefan made a deal with Klaus and became a ripper for him to save Damon. But this dark side of him took over and when we then tried killing Klaus a week ago at a homecoming party he stopped Damon from killing him, but he also stole Klaus' siblings, who are all neutralized and in coffins."

"Oh…" I regretted saying yes to Klaus now. Had I know that he had turned my little brother into a ripper like me I would have slapped him and walked away. "Where is he now? Do you know where he's keeping the Originals?"

More importantly – where was he keeping Elijah?

"We don't know, but we think he's still in town," Damon said. "But if he sees you we might be able to get him in touch with his human side. We need all the help we can get to kill Klaus."

I wanted to tell them that I'd already met Klaus and said yes to work with him, but I felt like I was betraying Klaus and I didn't want to do that.

"And just how do we kill Klaus? He's a hybrid."

They both shrugged and I realized why Damon had sounded so angry at Stefan at the Grill. Stefan had ruined their only shot of killing Klaus and to what? To piss the man he saved off later by kidnapping all of his neutralized siblings?

"I can't believe that Stefan is a… _ripper_. I mean, if any of us would become a ripper, then it would be either you or me. Stefan is our sweet, caring and innocent little brother, who always cared a lot about others."

Damon laughed dryly. "Yeah, that changed when he became a vampire. He's been on and off human blood ever since he was turned, but because he never learned to control his hunger and just drank animal blood for decades then his ripper side never disappeared."

"Oh dear… in that case we better find him fast." So I could find Elijah too and talk with him.

"Why did you decide to return now?" Elena suddenly asked.

I dreaded that that question would come sooner or later and now that it came I couldn't make myself lie to them. Damon would figure out if I lied anyway, because he'd grown up with me and knew me almost better than I knew myself.

"Um… Klaus called me. I haven't talked with him since 1862 and he made me forget about him until now." I said reluctantly.

Damon frowned. "What did he want?"

"I don't know," I lied, hoping that he wouldn't notice. "I haven't talked with him yet."

My brother looked suspiciously at me for a moment, but didn't seem to notice that I was lying. It was a luck that he'd forgotten how I was whenever I lied, because if he knew that I was in love with his enemy he would freak out.

"Well, you better stay away from him. The last thing we need Klaus to know is that you're my sister, unless he already knows it and wants to take advantage of you being here."

Maybe he already was doing exactly that. I needed to find that out and the only way to do that was by meeting him tomorrow night at the high school carnival.

"_Damon? Elena? Are you in here?_" an unknown voice said.

We all turned towards the man, who came in to the living room. He raised an eyebrow when he saw me, but he did look kindda good, so I went to introduce myself to him. Just because he was human didn't mean that we couldn't have some fun together – with our clothes on.

"Hello, I'm Althea Salvatore. Are you a friend of my brother?" I said.

"Friend…? Oh, yes I am, but did you just say brother? As in you're _Damon's_ sister?" he asked.

I nodded and smiled to Damon, who was shaking his head of me in embarrassment. I didn't get why he was embarrassed by me, but his friend introduced himself to me and I found out that Alaric Saltzman or "Rick" as he preferred, worked as a high school teacher and vampire hunter, but he also worked with Damon and the others.

"Um, Allie, could I please talk with you for a moment? Alone?" Damon asked.

I nodded and went with him to the kitchen, while Rick and Elena stayed in the living room. I found it quite amusing to annoy him and especially in front of his friends.

"Alaric is kindda hot. Is he single?" I asked just to annoy him even more.

"You are _not_ going out with Rick! In fact, you're not allowed to go out with anyone at all in this town or any other town." he answered.

I rolled my eyes. "Still overprotective, I see. Well, I'm sorry but I'm a grown woman and I'm still two years older than you, so I'm going to date whoever I want to date."

He groaned. "This is hell…"

I grinned. "Aw! I love you too, Damon!"

I gave him a kiss on his cheek, making him wrinkle his nose and leave. He always hated whenever I did that and also used to hate it when our mother did it. I went back in to the living room to find Elena the only one there and Damon had unfortunately left with Alaric.

"That guy needs some discipline. It's a good thing I came and can hold him by his ear again." I said teasingly, finishing my drink.

Elena laughed and sat down next to me. "Good luck doing that. He can be a real… jerk sometimes. But I'm glad you came too and I hope that you'll be able to help Stefan. He really needs it."

I looked at Elena and could tell by the way she talked about Stefan that she was in love with him. I wanted Stefan to be happy and Elena seemed like a sweet girl, so of course I was going to help her.

"You and my brother used to be together, didn't you?"

She nodded and sighed. "Klaus destroyed everything that's good about him. I don't know what to do if he stays like this forever, because I know that he's a good guy deep inside."

I nodded in agreement. "So do I…"

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	9. State Of Mind

**A/N: Hii, thanks for the lovely reviews, faves and alerts! :D**

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 8:

"You've got a beautiful bedroom," I said as Damon walked in to his bedroom at night. He looked like he'd had a few drinks and was exhausted, but he still smiled when he saw me. I put the book I'd found in his bedroom back on a pile of other books and stretched my arms and legs out on his king-size bed. "How come you don't keep anything from our old home like Stefan does?"

Damon took his leather jacket off, throwing it on my head purposely. I rolled my eyes and took it off, but caught the scent of Bourbon on it. It reminded me of our father, who used to drink Bourbon too. It was his favorite choice of beverage and it seemed that it was Damon's favorite too.

"Stefan is a packrat and likes to be reminded of our human life, whereas I'm being awesome by enjoying being a vampire and living in the present." Damon said sarcastically.

"Of course… but don't you ever miss our human life? I mean, the parts where everything was so simple, you didn't have to live on human blood and you and I getting in trouble all the time…"

Damon shook his head and lay down next to me on the bed with his hands behind his head. I looked at him and couldn't stop thinking about how much he'd changed personality wise.

"The only thing I missed was you and mom. Especially you."

I sat up and looked at him as he let his fingers intertwine with mine. I wanted to apologize for leaving and for lying about Klaus, but I didn't want him to hate me for the part about Klaus.

"Did you find Stefan?" I asked worriedly, wanting to change the subject before I became emotional.

"I did," Damon answered, making my heart skip a beat. "I told him that you were alive and back, but he just laughed and said that I was lying. Stefan took your death the worst. He felt like it was his fault that you left and… well, crashed."

I understood why Stefan would think that, but he shouldn't feel that way. I'd been thinking about running away ever since William proposed to me and I was forced to say yes.

"You have his cell phone number?"

Damon nodded and handed me his phone. "But I don't think he'll answer it. He's been ignoring me for days."

I tried anyway and hoped that Stefan would answer it. I needed to talk with him as soon as possible and remind him of his humanity. I waited and waited and just as I thought that he wasn't going to answer it he did.

"_Damon, leave me alone!_" he yelled angrily.

"Steffie? It's not Damon. It's me, Althea. I–"

Stefan hung up on me and Damon and I looked at each other with disbelief written all over our faces. Of all the things we expected Stefan to do then this wasn't one of the things. I sighed heavily and handed Damon back his cell phone. Either Stefan was too shocked to talk with me or else he hated me so much that he didn't want to listen to me.

"Give him some time," Damon said and smirked. "I was about to faint when I saw you."

I smiled a little, but I was more concerned than ever about Stefan and his state of mind. "Well, I'm going to bed then. Can I sleep in here? Your bed is so wonderful that I could die in it."

The smile on Damon's lips faded when I said 'die' and I immediately regretting saying it when I knew that he was still getting used to the fact that I was alive.

"And of course I was not being literal…"

"No, no it's ok, Thea. I'm glad you're back, I really am, but there is no way in hell that I'm letting you sleep in my bed. And you probably don't want to know how many girls I've slept with in this bed either, so…"

I quickly jumped out of it and wrinkled my nose in disgust. I should have known better than to lie on his bed when he was a real womanizer now. Damon grinned, so I grabbed a pillow and threw it in his face before walking out of the bedroom.

I decided to take one of the other rooms that was near Damon's, but after I'd changed into my sleeping shorts and tank top I heard a sound coming from downstairs, so I went downstairs, hoping that it was Stefan.

No one was there.

I sighed, but looked worriedly around to see if anyone had come, but the house was eerily quiet, until I heard Damon coming down the stairs.

"Jesus Christ, put some clothes on!" he muttered when he saw what I was going to sleep in.

I rolled my eyes. "But this is what women wear today! You want me to put a 19th century chemise on instead?" I asked.

"Preferably, yes. Or maybe one from a century where it wasn't allowed for someone's sister to walk around with almost no clothes on."

I snickered, enjoying how uncomfortable Damon became. It was adorable that a womanizer like him couldn't take seeing his own sister in a pair of ordinary sleeping shorts and a top that wasn't as revealing as he made it sound like.

"Fine! I'll get my sweatpants!"

I went back upstairs and changed into my long sweatpants, then went back down to Damon, who was pouring himself a glass of human blood in the kitchen.

"Oh, pour one for me too! That stewardess I drained on my way over here didn't taste that good," I said, making Damon's eyes widen. "What? You thought I drank animal blood too?"

"I did actually," he said, handing me the glass. "But thank God you don't. You would stop being awesome like me then."

I giggled. "Oh, so now I'm your awesome big sister? That's nice to know."

Damon smirked and raised his glass mockingly up in the air. "Welcome home, Allie!"

"Thanks (!) I really am happy to be back, though, because I thought that you and Stefan both hated me for leaving and that you would hate me even more if I came back as a vampire."

"We wouldn't, but Dad would. He loathed vampires and became horrified when he found out that we were in love with one. But… what happened after Klaus compelled you to forget him?"

Seriously, Damon? Why did he have to be so nosy! I had a quick inner debate with myself on whether or not I should just tell him the truth since this was about Elijah and had nothing whatsoever to do with me being in love with Klaus – except the reason why I met Elijah of course.

"I… went to the only other vampire I knew and that was Klaus' brother Elijah. He taught me how to control my hunger, powers and emotions and in return I helped him find Klaus for some time. We split up, though, just before the Second World War begun and I was enjoying my eternity in Paris when Klaus called and let me remember everything about him."

"You're kidding me, right? You've lived with Klaus _and_ that traitor Elijah?"

I frowned. "Traitor? What are you talking about?"

Damon sighed, but began telling me about their attempt to kill Klaus during the sacrifice he needed to do in order to break his curse. He said that Elijah saved Klaus instead of killing him while he was most vulnerable and thus Klaus succeeded in becoming a hybrid. I knew that Elijah wouldn't do it unless he had a valid reason and I wanted to know what his reason was.

"Now I feel bad about hitting on him repeatedly…" I said.

"You hit on Elijah? _Elijah_!" Damon exclaimed.

"Um, yeah… we dated for some time, but–"

"Althea! _What the hell–!_"

I giggled and downed my glass of blood, then went to hug him and give him a good night kiss on his cheek, which he of course quickly wiped off. I went back upstairs and tried getting some rest, but my thoughts kept drifting back to Stefan and how he had hung up on me. I had to find him tomorrow and show him that I really was back and remind him of our human life, because from what I'd gathered he really needed it.

When morning came I was awakened by the touch someone gently stroking my cheek, but when I opened my eyes I found myself alone in my bedroom. The window was wide open, though, so I went to see if someone was outside and saw the shadow of someone who quickly disappeared.

I hoped that it was Stefan, so I jumped out of the window and ran in the direction the person had run. I could hear that the person was still nearby and as I ran deeper inside the woods I lost him for a moment, until I suddenly felt a pair of familiar arms slip around my waist from behind and a pair of lips on the side of my bare neck.

"This century's fashion really suits you, but you should have worn sleeping shorts instead…" Klaus murmured alluringly into my ear.

I turned around and couldn't stop myself from smiling by the way he looked at me with that familiar charming smirk. He suddenly pinned me against a tree with my arms above my head and he kissed me with such passion, rawness and fierceness that I couldn't resist kissing him back. I could feel that he had changed, but it was in a good way that made me remember how much I loved him.

"Oh, how I've missed those sweet lips of yours."

I giggled and jumped up on him, locking my legs around his waist. I missed his lips too and how he was able to make me feel hot inside just by looking at me. So I ignored the fact that he was my brother's worst enemy and enjoyed this moment with him. It might be that this would be the last perfect moment we would have together before hell broke loose.

"I missed you too, Niklaus," I whispered between the kisses. "A shame you didn't get to be my first, though."

Klaus broke the kiss and looked at me with a mischievous smile. "Yes, that is a shame, but then it's my job to be the best you've ever had." he said.

I snorted. "The best? You may be a hybrid and thousand years old, but that doesn't mean that you'll be the best. Remember that."

I let go of his waist and moved away, taking a look towards the boarding house that was still quiet inside. I had to get back to my bedroom soon before Damon caught me making out with Klaus.

That would be a very awkward conversation…

"I have to go," I said. "Don't ruin my first week here, okay?"

Klaus groaned. "Fine. I have a few things to take care of anyway. But I'll see you tonight at the carnival. I'll be the dashing young hybrid in a dark gray suit and blood red pocket square."

I grinned. "And I'll be the stunning young vampire in a blood red dress and black high heels."

He kissed my hand like a gentleman and watched me walk away back towards the house. I quietly climbed up into a tree and then tried to jump in to my bedroom as soundlessly as possible, but unfortunately I still woke up Damon and therefore quickly closed the window. If he only knew…

**Thanks for reading and please review! ;D**


	10. Carnival

**A/N: Hii, thanks for the lovely reviews, faves and alerts! :D**

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 9:

"Your brother is a real douchebag," Caroline Forbes said after introducing herself to me. "Has he always been such a jerk?"

I grinned. "Not always, not. But he wasn't perfect before he became a vampire," I said and looked to Elena, who was snickering in the background. She'd invited me over to her place this afternoon and the minute her friends heard that Damon and Stefan had a sister – aka me – they just had to come over too to questioning me. "You said your last name was Forbes, right? You don't happen to be a descendant of _William_ Forbes?"

Caroline frowned, but nodded and I was surprised by how much she actually reminded me of William's younger sister in looks, but William's sister was much more annoying and posh than Caroline seemed to be, which I was thankful of.

"I nearly married your great-grandfather."

"Oh, so you're _that_ Thea! My grandfather told me that he'd been told that you crashed and died in your carriage one night."

"Obviously, she didn't," Bonnie Bennett said, smirking a bit. "But we heard that you were turned by Klaus, so does that mean he _saved_ you back then?"

I nodded, but didn't reveal anything that might make them believe that I felt something for Klaus, because those feelings were none of their business. I didn't approve of what he did, but I loved _him_ and his strange personality.

"Are you coming to the carnival tonight?" Elena asked curiously.

"Sure, someone needs to keep an eye on you kids," I answered teasingly. "And by kids I mean Damon too. Right, Damon?"

I looked towards Damon, who stood talking with Alaric a few feet away from us and knew that he could hear what I said. He looked at me and rolled his eyes of me, making us all giggle. I loved annoying him in public and now I didn't have to worry that our father would scold us for it.

"It's about time someone starts getting on Damon's nerves for once instead of the other way around," Bonnie said. "But remember to wear something fancy. The theme is Venetian Carnival, but not nearly as extravagant as a real one. You'll still have to wear a mask, though."

I nodded understandingly and was about to say something when I saw Caroline get a brilliant idea and take my arm in hers.

"We so need to go shopping for dresses and masks and you're going! I want all the embarrassing details about Damon's childhood." she said.

Damon's face suddenly turned pale and he quickly, but casually walked towards me with a forced smirk on his lips that revealed that he didn't want me to reveal anything embarrassing from his childhood that might make him seem less awesome.

"My dear sister, could I borrow you for a moment?" he asked, but grabbed me before I could answer and walked away fast, until we reached the other end of the high school parking lot.

"Why do I have the feeling that you don't want me to tell them anything?" I mused, smirking mischievously.

"If you say anything about my childhood, then I'll tell them about how you used to sleep in Stefan and my bedroom whenever you had a nightmare, which annoyingly was very often!"

I blushed. "Okay, fine! I won't say anything. But I couldn't help that I was afraid of the dark."

Damon raised an eyebrow. "You were 14…"

My cheeks became redder, making Damon smile. "To be fair then I mostly slept in Stefan's room. You snored too much and sometimes talked in your sleep."

He rolled his eyes and I was about to walk back to the girls, but he grabbed my wrist and pulled me back again.

"I'm not done yet. I need you to help me chaperone tonight and since you've got no date anyway, then you might as well keep an eye on all those hormonal teenagers with me and Rick."

I groaned, because I actually did have a date, but he just didn't know about it. "Am I allowed to drink while I do it?"

"Yeah, but only a beer or maybe one glass of Scotch."

I really didn't want to chaperone and especially not when I wanted to spend some time with Klaus and figure out what he was up to.

"C'mon, Allie! Pretty please?"

I chuckled. It was rarely Damon ever used the word "please" and maybe I would be able to sneak away for a moment, so I couldn't see any trouble in chaperoning for a few hours.

"Okay, fine! But only if you stop being so damn overprotective and let me wear what I want to wear. It's not 1862 anymore. Men don't have that much power over women today."

I went back to the girls and we decided to go searching for Venetian masks and unnecessary clothes just to have an excuse for using money (particularly Damon's money since I stole his credit card this morning!).

We walked from store to store with Caroline asking me one embarrassing question after another about Damon and Stefan. I didn't tell them too much, but we did share a few good laughs during the trip that made Elena and I forget what had happened to Stefan. I still worried that Stefan didn't want to speak with me at all and feared that he'd left town or something worse.

After we'd bought our masks and a lot of clothes we went to Caroline's home and helped each other getting ready for tonight. As planned I was going to wear a blood red dress with black laced high heels and a matching black laced mask that was decorated with gold pearls and plastic diamonds. I was excited to see Klaus and wondered if he was even going to show up.

By the time we were done curling each other's hair and applying the last touch of makeup we were about 20 minutes late to the carnival, so I drove us there as quickly as possible (though within the speed limit) and got us there in only five minutes. Damon was waiting impatiently in the parking lot, but his reaction to us coming late was nothing compared to when he saw me in the red dress.

"You are not wearing that dress," he said before I could even greet him. "Take it off and put something else on. Whatever you do, then don't wear _that_!"

I rolled my eyes and went to greet Alaric instead. "It's really ironic. Damon doesn't mind girls wearing just about nothing, but when it's his own sister he totally freaks out." he said teasingly.

"True. I bet he's just jealous because he's not the smoking hot Salvatore anymore." I said, sticking my tongue teasingly out at him.

Damon raised his hands in defeat and walked away, so Alaric and I went to the bar together to get something to drink. Since they didn't serve anything remotely alcoholic, then I settled with a root beer and sat waiting at the bar for Klaus to find me.

I waited and watched the hormonal teenagers dance to the music, have fun and enjoying their youth for what felt like hours, but only an hour had passed since I arrived. I sighed and turned around on my barstool to order another drink, but the bartender suddenly handed me a glass of what smelled and looked like Bourbon, which made me frown and look confusedly at him as he went to give some teenagers a root beer.

"Cheers!" a familiar voice said next to me.

I turned and smiled when I saw Klaus' sky-blue eyes behind his mask and recognized the suit he said he would wear. He was drinking a glass of Bourbon too and watching the teenagers dance.

"Cheers," I said and took a sip. "And here I thought you wouldn't come…"

"Now why would I miss out on seeing you in that dress? And I agree with Damon being way too overprotective of you. I wasn't even that overprotective of my sister Rebekah. Elijah was, though."

The sound of Elijah's name made the smile on my lips fade a little, because I still found it very frustrating that Elijah didn't seem to want me even though he had told me that he really liked me. It was if he was scared of being in a relationship with me, which I really didn't understand.

"I would like to invite you for a dance, but your brother will probably be all over me then."

"And he'll kill me for talking with you." I added.

Klaus looked at me for a moment and I felt like the entire school was silenced. His gaze pierced right into my soul and I felt the fear of getting caught dancing with him disappear. I realized that he was compelling me, but I didn't mind it because then I had an excuse to dance with him.

"You want to dance with me, but first you will finish your drink."

I downed my drink and pulled him out on the dance floor as they began playing _I Want Love_ by Marirose. We danced closely together in the massive crowd of people, Klaus' hands moving slowly down along my body and his body so close to my back that I could feel him breathing down on my neck. It reminded me of the times we used to dance together in his old home and he would slowly, but surely make me feel like I could do anything without feeling the consequences of it.

"Oh, no – Damon-alert!" Klaus muttered, making me open my closed eyes and look at Damon, who was making his way through the crowd to us.

I gulped and tried letting go of Klaus, but he just spun me around and continued dancing as if he didn't care that we'd been spotted, which I knew was the case.

"Hello, Damon. You've got a very beautiful sister…" he said tauntingly, making Damon's jaw tighten and his fists clench. "She's a lovely dancer too, but it's a shame she can't resist compulsion."

"Let her go. She has nothing to do with his." Damon growled more than said.

"Hmm… well, in some ways she does, because your brother took my siblings. I want them back and not until I do that will I give you back your and his sister. Come, Althea. I think this carnival is a bit too… boring for us."

I was forced to follow Klaus and saw that Damon's face turn pale with fear. He was afraid of losing me again and especially to Klaus, so he quickly left and probably tried getting in touch with Stefan, while Klaus and I walked out to the parking lot.

"You promised you wouldn't ruin my first week home." I growled.

"Sorry, but I only needed to send a message to Stefan. I don't have any wish to harm you when you've done nothing wrong to me." Klaus said.

"Oh… but where are we going?"

Klaus smirked. "You'll see, sweetheart. Just be patient."

I snorted. "I don't know how to be that."

He chuckled, picked me up in his arms and carried me the rest of the way, until we reached his car. I took one last look at the carnival and at Damon, who stood by the entrance with a panicked look on his face, feeling like I was the worst sister. I was letting Klaus use me to hurt my brothers and to get his siblings back, which made me wonder if I really could trust him.

**Thanks for reading and please review! :D**


	11. Liberty

**A/N: Hiii, thanks for all the lovely reviews, faves and alerts! :D**

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 10:

"So, how long am I supposed to stay here as your prisoner?" I asked grumpily, staring up at the ceiling of his living room.

Klaus was sitting in the armchair next to the couch I was lying on and busy watching the local news for any updates on what the townsmen were doing. So far Damon had called me about five times, Stefan hadn't yet shown up with any of Klaus' siblings and I was slowly starting to get immensely bored.

When Klaus didn't answer, though, I took a pillow and threw it at him, hitting him right in his face. He finally removed his gaze from the TV and looked at me, eyes narrowed in annoyance.

"What?" he said.

"I asked you a question. You didn't answer. So unless you want another pillow in your face, then answer: _how long am I supposed to stay here as your prisoner?_"

Klaus smirked devilishly. "As long as I want you to stay."

I rolled my eyes. "That's not an answer. I'm leaving."

I jumped off the couch and was almost at the door when I suddenly felt Klaus grab my arm, spin me around and press me against the door with a mischievous look in his eyes. He held my hands pinned to the door and I could guess by the way he was looking up and down at me that he was undressing me in his mind.

"Perv," I said teasingly and winked flirtatiously. "Can I at least call my brothers?"

"Nope. Or else they'll become suspicious," Klaus said. "But we could go out. Though, you'll be under my compulsion the entire time."

I sighed, but let him compel me to go with him to town and walked with him to the Mystic Grill where we met only two days ago. I made sure to look for Damon and Stefan in case they were here too, because even though Klaus promised not to harm them, then I knew that he wanted to punish Stefan in some way for taking his siblings from him.

However, when walked inside the Mystic Grill we were both shocked to see no other than Elijah himself standing next to Stefan and talking with him about his other siblings. He spotted us at the entrance and when his eyes fell on my own I felt a twinge in my heart. This was the man, whom I'd fallen in love with after Klaus disappeared and who didn't seem to love me back.

"Looks like your brother heard my message. That's good," Klaus said, then grabbed my arm in an iron grip and pulled me towards his own brother. "Ah, Elijah! I see Stefan took the liberty to wake you up. I can't say that I'm pleased about it, but then it's a good thing that I have Althea here. Elijah, you've met Althea before, haven't you?"

I wanted to break free of Klaus' grip and run to Stefan, but Klaus kept me where I was, his gaze solely on his brother. I saw Stefan shift uncomfortably beside Elijah and every time I tried looking into his eyes he looked away as if he was angry at me.

"We have, but didn't really think that I would let you leave this place because of her. She means nothing to me," Elijah said. I looked at him and felt another twinge in my heart. I didn't know if he was lying or not and that was what scared me the most. "You've killed our mother, our father, _Henrick_ and any respect I used to have for you. Someone will eventually kill you, Klaus, and when they do I won't even bury your body. You deserve to rot in the gutter."

I was shocked by how harsh and cold Elijah's words sounded, but I had a feeling that Klaus had pissed him off one too many times and he didn't want to put up with it anymore. I looked at Klaus and could feel him squeeze my arm harder, an indication of that he still cared about what others thought and especially what his siblings thought.

"Very well – Althea I will let you stay with your brothers," Klaus said in a suspicious way. He kissed my hand, then leaned to my ear and whispered very quietly. "You will wait for my next orders and do as I tell you to do."

He left the Mystic Grill and I stood before Elijah and my little brother, unable to say or do anything right now. I was still hurt by his remark about not caring about me and it didn't help that Stefan seemed to hate me too.

"Stefan," I said, but he ignored me and left the Mystic Grill via the back entrance. It hurt to see him hate me so much and shocked me so much that I had to sit down, because I was starting to feel lightheaded. Elijah stayed, though, and sat down beside me, letting me rest my head on his shoulder. "I thought you didn't care about me…"

"Of course I do. And that's exactly what I don't want Klaus to know. He's already taken away everyone else I cared about from me. I only have you and my siblings left."

"At least you have your siblings. My own little brother can't even look into my eyes."

Elijah cupped my face in his hands, making me look into those oak brown eyes of his. "Don't stop trying of that reason. He needs his siblings if he wants to get his humanity back."

I sighed heavily, but tried believing what he said and relaxed a bit. "How are you? I heard that you were… neutralized."

He smiled weakly. "Besides feeling a tad dead, then I'm fine. But I could really need a cup of tea and a friend to talk with."

I smiled back and decided to stay with him at the Grill before going to find Stefan. As we waited for the waitress to get us our tea and something to eat I called Damon to let him know that I was back, but just as I called I saw him walk inside with determined steps, looking for someone until his eyes suddenly fell on me and he sighed in relief.

"Why are you sitting here with Traitor Elijah?" he asked grumpily.

Elijah rolled his eyes. "That's another way to say thank you for saving your sister, but I approve of it," he said. "Have you talked with your brother?"

Damon frowned, but shook his head and looked apologetic at me. "Stefan was here a moment ago," I said. "But he left again. I think he hates me."

"Of course he doesn't hate you. But did he say anything? Why did Klaus let you go?"

I looked at Elijah, who fixated his look on someone else in the restaurant. I tried to see who it was, but he looked away again. Something was troubling him and it annoyed me that he would let me in when he knew that he could trust me… well, sort of.

I hadn't told any of them about my feelings for Klaus yet and I wasn't going to do it anytime soon. They wouldn't understand me and call me irresponsible or foolish even though that was exactly what I was being right now.

"Elijah scared him off," I said. "But I don't think that's the only reason why he did it. And no, Stefan didn't say anything to me, but he did say something to you." I said, looking at Elijah.

"Ah, yes, I thanked him for awakening me and he told me that he stopped Damon from killing Klaus because he knew that the white oak stake would kill him too."

Damon gaped, but it was nice for me to know that Stefan still cared about Damon and could never be truly evil. The bond he had with Damon and I was much stronger than anything else, but it didn't seem like he would do the same thing for me had I been in Damon's position.

"Where did he keep you and your siblings?" I asked.

"In an old abandoned house near the woods. I'll take you there if you need to talk with him." Elijah answered.

"You sure he'll be there?" Damon asked.

I shook my head. "But I need to find him. He deserves to know the truth about what happened to me and… hopefully he'll understand that I never meant to hurt any of you." I said.

Damon sighed, but he offered to drive us to the place and Elijah gave him the directions as he drove towards the woods. It was strange to see Elijah again and a part of me wanted to take him in my arms and kiss him like I used to do in the past, but I knew that Elijah didn't love me the same way I loved him, so I stayed put and kept my hands to myself.

We parked at a road near the house, but we had to walk the rest of the way uphill and it was a much longer way than I expected – especially in high heeled shoes. I ended up taking my shoes off and bullied (yes, _bullied_ like only a big sister can!) Damon into carrying me on his back at the places where the ground was pebbly.

The house seemed empty at first and there was a reason for that. Stefan wasn't there. I was of course disappointed not to find him, but I had a feeling that he was going to return and look out for the other coffins that held Elijah's siblings trapped sooner or later.

"You don't have to stay here with me," I said, removing a white blanket that covered an old chair. I took a seat in it and saw that Damon and Elijah were still there. "I can take care of myself."

"Yeah, you certainly proved that at the carnival…" Damon retorted.

I rolled my eyes. "So you're seriously going to wait here with me in a house in the middle of nowhere and listen to me talk all day about girly stuff?"

Damon narrowed his eyes at me. "Don't think that that can scare me away. I have years of practice in listening to you rambling on about girly stuff. I'm not leaving and that's final."

I looked pleadingly at Elijah and he was kind enough to grab Damon and take him away from the house faster than he could stop him, leaving me behind alone in the house. I sat on the chair and waited for hours, taking a walk around the house and a look inside the coffins every now and then to keep myself occupied.

It was nearly night time before Stefan finally arrived and when he did he seemed shocked to find me sitting in the room he kept the Originals, but he tried to cover his bewilderment.

"Hello, Stefan… It's nice to see you again," I said, not quite sure what I should say first. There was so many things I wanted to tell him, but most of all I wanted to give him a hug and let him know that I truly was alive. "I know what happened to you. They say you've gone ripperish, which I find very hard to believe. I mean, you're not a killer. You're my little brother."

"That was a long time ago, Althea. Things have changed. I have changed," Stefan said coldly. I sighed and walked up to him. "Even you have changed."

"No… you may be a vampire, but you're still my brother. My blood. I know how hard it is to fight that urge for blood – trust me I do. I've been through the same thing, but I got help and I'm going to help you too. I'm not going to tell you to drink animal blood instead, but I'm not letting you kill another innocent man or woman either."

"You can't save me, Althea. Don't you see? Everything that used to be good about me is gone! I told Elena that, I told Damon that and now I'm telling you. I–"

I slapped Stefan hard across his face, silencing him and myself. I didn't want to hit him – I'd never hit him like that before – but he needed it and now he was ready to listen to me.

"I love you, Stefan, and I know you still love me, Damon and Elena," I said and cupped his face in my hands. He was shivering slightly and I could see that he was trying hard not to show any emotions. "I know I made a mistake by leaving that night and getting myself killed and then transformed by the man you're trying to kill now, but I'm not leaving again before you let your humanity shine through. It's a part of what you are... this dark side of you isn't everything you are."

**Thanks for reading and please review! :D**


	12. Rejected

**A/N: Hii, thanks for the lovely reviews, faves and alerts! :D**

****Since it's soon Christmas and all then I've decided to update one of my stories on the 24th (the day we celebrate Christmas in Denmark), so I'm going to update the story that gets the most reviews in the newest chap ;)****

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 11:

"Did it work?" Damon asked the second I stepped inside the house.

I thought back on the talk I had with Stefan and felt rage boil inside me. Klaus had seriously messed my brother's mind up and I was going to make him regret ever doing that to Stefan when I saw him again. I promised Stefan that before he left and I was going to keep my promise.

I shook my head to answer Damon's question and went in to the living room with him, pouring myself a glass of Bourbon.

"I tried reminding him of that he isn't all bad, but he wouldn't listen to me and left. He blames himself for so many things that weren't even his fault. Especially the part about me leaving and becoming a vampire thanked to Klaus." I said.

"Figures… he's always been like that."

I nodded and took a swig of my drink, but turned around when I suddenly heard a sound coming from behind me. I saw Elijah stood in the living room, resting his arms on the railing and looked so calm despite the stressful situation we were in.

"Give him some time," Elijah said. "In the meantime there's someone I'd both like you to meet."

Two young men stepped out from the dark shadows of the room and they both looked like they were in their twenties. There was something eerily familiar about them that made me wonder if these two men were Elijah's brothers and therefore also Klaus' brothers.

"Hello, Miss Salvatore," said the youngest one of them, walking down to me. I saw Damon tense up a bit, but he seemed to know them already and didn't say anything when the youngest of them kissed my hand politely. "My name is Kol and over there is Finn. We're Elijah's brothers."

Huh, I was right! I smiled to both of them and received a charming smirk from Finn that reminded me of the one Klaus usually sent me.

"Please call me Althea, but will you two be helping us kill Klaus?" I asked curiously.

"Of course. That bastard is going to pay for killing our parents and neutralizing us!" Finn answered with venom in his voice.

"What my brother is trying to say so calmly is that we're definitely on your side," Kol said, smiling. "And we thank your brother for letting us stay here until we find a place of our own."

"You did?" I looked at Damon, who seemed focused on something else – namely how Kol was still holding the hand he kissed. I giggled. "I think my brother wants you to let go of my hand."

Kol raised an eyebrow and chuckled, but let go of my hand. He was very sweet and reminded me mostly of Elijah, while Finn seemed a little like Klaus. I took another swig of my glass and walked up to the oldest Original, who'd been awfully quiet ever since he left me alone with Stefan.

"Elijah, may I have a word with you? Alone?" I asked.

"Of course," he answered calmly and took one look at his younger brothers. "I know you both want revenge, but please behave until I return. We cannot afford to lose any more people in our family. And that means that you, Finn, will not be looking for Klaus on your own and getting yourself in trouble. Understood?"

Finn rolled his eyes, but Elijah and I left anyway and went on a little walk in the woods where we could talk privately. I was happy to get some time alone with him and wanted so badly to tell him that I still loved him, but I was afraid that he would reject me again like the last time.

I'd told him that I had strong feelings for him, but he said that he didn't believe in love anymore and that I therefore should not waste my time and effort on him.

"I'm glad you've gotten your siblings back," I said. "Kol seems like a sweet guy and Finn–"

"Finn reminds you of Klaus, yes?" Elijah said, smiling a little. I nodded and he continued. "He and I have always had a… ah, strained bond – sibling rivalry between the two oldest."

I nodded understandingly and sighed, because I knew how that felt like. Damon and I also used to compete against each other since I was only two years older than him, but of course with Damon being the first born son and all, then he won our father's interest most of the time.

"Elijah, I'm sorry I left you to deal with your brother alone. I… should have stayed and helped you – even more so after how you helped me control my hunger." I said.

"You don't have to apologize, Althea. You're still a close friend of mine and I respect your wishes," Elijah said. "And… I'm thankful to have you back by my side."

I smiled and hugged him for a moment, resisting the urge to just kiss him now and feel those lips against my own again. We always wanted what we couldn't have and Elijah was the one thing I couldn't have. I didn't know if I belonged with a man like him, but I wanted to give it a shot, so when we looked into each other's eyes I kissed him and the touch of his lips made me forget my failed attempt to make Stefan feel something good.

"No…" Elijah muttered, pulling away. I looked at him and felt so stupid for kissing him. Of course he didn't feel anything for me. If he did then… then he would have told me so ages ago. "I am sorry Althea, but I can't do this. I… I should go."

He left before I could say a word and I felt a twinge in my heart that made my eyes become wet with tears. I stood still for a few minutes and did nothing, trying my hardest not to cry or give up. I sighed and sat down on a big rock, placing my hands on my face in shame and sadness of everything. Why did my life have to be so very complicated?

"_Althea,_" a familiar voice said. I turned around and saw no one at first, but then Klaus suddenly appeared out of nowhere with a single red rose in his hand and a charming smile on his lips. "I'm surprised to find you out here, but it's a luck because I have something I want to give you."

I snorted. "A rose? You went all the way to my home to give me a rose?" I asked incredulously, feeling the anger inside me boil again.

"Among other things," he answered, the smile now replaced by a thin line. "I thought you'd be happy to see me, but it seems you have changed your mind about… us."

"No," I said. "I changed my mind about you. You've broken my little brother! It's because of you he's like this – a ripper! When I look at him I can't find my brother anymore. It's like… like you killed everything that was good and pure about him…" I felt the tears return.

Klaus sighed and walked up to me. "Althea, I only brought fourth what's inside him. He was born to become a ripper and trust me – when I met him back in the 20s he was worse than this and that was without me telling him to accept what he really is. You can't blame me for how he is. If you need to blame anyone then blame the vampire who turned him. Help me hunt her down."

I turned my back to him, but he walked over to the other side and placed the rose in my hair. I looked up at him and met those hauntingly beautiful blue eyes of his that always made me feel like I was worth being loved by someone other than my family.

"Thea, I know how you feel. You feel like your own brother has turned his back to you, but you are not alone. You have me," he said. "Someone who understands you, someone who knows what you want and someone… who loves you."

He brushed a stray lock of my hair behind my ear and kissed my cheek softly. I knew that I should hate him, but every time he touched me I didn't feel lonely anymore and I felt the kind of freedom he gave me when he turned me.

"Why do I feel like you're the Devil sent to tempt me?" I asked, smiling weakly of the touch of his hand on my cheek.

Klaus smiled and kissed me on my lips this time, making me forget the pain I felt when Elijah once again rejected me.

"Even the Devil can sometimes be the right person to go to," he said teasingly. "Enjoy your freedom, my love. It won't be long before we will meet again."

He left me alone in the woods, but this time I didn't feel hurt inside. I went back to the boarding house and found Damon being slammed against the wall by Finn for teasing him about his name. It didn't surprise me that Damon would tease him about something like that, because he used to call me Little Allie when we were younger, which always annoyed me since I _was_ and still am the oldest.

"Give it a rest, Damo!" I said teasingly.

"Why? I mean wouldn't you agree that Finn is the worst possibly name you could name your son?" he asked, smirking smugly at Finn.

"Oh, I don't know… I kindda like it. It's better than Damon, that's for sure."

Finn grinned and let go of Damon, suddenly standing before me with a charming smirk on his lips that definitely reminded me of the one Klaus just flashed to me.

"I like you, Miss Salvatore. We should go out for a drink sometime." he said flirtatiously, making Damon go into protective-brother mode.

I smirked and said: "We really should and do call me Althea."

"No, do not call her that and stay the hell away from my sister!" Damon said.

Finn laughed and offered me his arm, which I gladly took just to piss Damon off. It definitely worked, but we weren't completely alone together when we went to the Mystic Grill, because as we arrived we saw Kol already inside, sitting at the bar with a drink in his hand.

"I apologize for my brother's lack of… respect. He never did care about those who were elder than himself." I said as we walked up to the bar.

"All is forgiven. I know how he is and unfortunately he reminds me of myself before I became a vampire," Finn said. "Except the part about being overprotective. Elijah was the overprotective brother in our family."

The mention of Elijah's name made me feel a twinge in my heart again, but I quickly pushed the memory of us in the woods out of my mind and took a seat between the two brothers. It felt like I was sitting between my own brothers, but of course I knew that they weren't my brothers. Mine were not currently speaking with each other.

"It is a very strange decade we have been brought back in," Kol said. "But a good one for soon we will get our revenge."

"Indeed we will, brother," Finn said. "I cannot wait to see the light disappear in Niklaus' eyes."

I felt my body tense up at that, because after my meeting with Klaus in the woods I wasn't so sure if I wanted to see him dead anymore. But I didn't say anything and just finished my drink, wondering where Elijah was right now.

"What plans do you have for after you've killed Klaus?" I asked after a while.

"Plans? Well, _I_ don't have any plans. We have been running from Klaus and our father for so many years and then we were neutralized…" Kol said and sighed.

"I have a plan," Finn said, though, and looked at me with a flirtatious look in his eyes. "When Klaus is dead I'm taking _you_ out for dinner in a foreign country."

I smiled. "Is that so? Let me guess – you're doing it to annoy my brother again, aren't you?"

He chuckled. "Among other things, but I also just really want to woo you before Elijah does."

I sighed. As if that was ever going to happen…

**Thanks for reading and please review! :D**


	13. Full Moon

**A/N: Hii, thanks for the awesome reviews, faves and alerts! ;D**

**Meh, my internet connection is being annoying - hence the late update, sorry! -_-'**

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 12:

Damon was standing by the front door, looking grumpy as always and in the dim light of the house he almost looked like our father. I looked up at the gloomy full moon that shone brightly on the dark sky and understood why he was waiting for me like an anxious and overprotective father.

"It's clear that your overprotective side has been enhanced…" I said as I brushed past him and went inside the house.

He quickly ran up in front of me and blocked my path, which only annoyed me more. I tried moving past him, but he grabbed my arm in an iron grip and slammed me against the wall. I flashed my fangs at him and red eyes warningly, but he wouldn't let go, so I swiftly pulled his hand up behind his back, making him wince in pain.

"You keep forgetting that I'm still older than you, Damon!"

I let go of his arm and he rubbed it where it had hurt for a moment, looking just as pissed off as he had made me.

"Yeah, well, if you didn't go about and flirt around with those Originals all the time, then I wouldn't have to act like I'm older than you! What the hell do you think you're doing? First Klaus, then Elijah, and now Finn and Kol?" Damon said accusingly.

I growled. "What are you implying? That I'm some sort of whore, who goes after Originals? Just because I'm back doesn't mean that you get to interfere what I do! If I want to have a drink with Finn and Kol, then I'll do it. And as for Elijah and Klaus then I never meant to meet them."

Damon groaned. "I'm not saying you're a whore, but I don't want you to get yourself killed again! The Originals might be helping us, but that doesn't mean that we can trust them. I don't want to lose you again, Thea! It was painful enough the first time…"

I crossed my arms and fixated my gaze on the floor instead of him. It was hard for me to look at my brother when he kept making me feel like everything that happened after I left was my fault.

Perhaps it was.

I mean, if I hadn't left and gotten myself killed then I might have been able to stop Damon and Stefan from falling in love with that bitch to Katherine and then they wouldn't have gotten involved in her mess and gotten themselves killed. And worst of all… Stefan wouldn't have become the ripper he became when he turned.

"Allie," Damon said, walking up to me. He cupped my face in his hands and made me look into his familiar blue eyes. "Please be careful. I know that you're still the same sister I knew in 1862 and that's why I don't want to lose you. You're the only one of us, who hasn't changed a bit. You've lost some of your inhibitions, yes, but that's about it. You still fall easily love and make impulsive decisions that will get yourself in danger."

God, how I hated how right he was! I hated whenever he made me feel guilty about something and especially when I'd fallen in love with two Originals. I didn't say anything, but merely embraced him and stood with him for a few minutes. Sometimes he did become my older brother as well and made me feel like how I must be making him feel like most of the time.

"How come you never became this overprotective when William and I started courting?" I asked teasingly as we broke the hug.

Damon grinned. "I was hoping that your 'charm' would scare him away." he answered.

I rolled my eyes and ruffled his hair. "There's nothing wrong with my charm!"

"Sure! Of course there's nothing wrong with it."

I shook my head of him and went to pour myself a drink, but as I looked outside the window I spotted Klaus. His eyes were glowing dark yellow and his hybrid fangs were out, and when he stood in the moonlight looking like something from a nightmare. He winked flirtatiously at me and disappeared before Damon spotted him as well.

"I think I'll go to bed now. It's been a long day." I lied and swiftly left before Damon could say anything.

I went outside instead and looked around for Klaus, but all I could see was darkness and the full moon. I walked a little farther away from the house and as I reached the woods I sensed that someone was nearby and turned around only to find no one. He was playing hide and seek with me just like we used to do back in 1862.

"It's not funny, Klaus, and I really don't have time to play with you." I said sternly.

I suddenly felt someone embrace me from behind and a pair of familiar lips on the crook of my neck that made butterflies going wild in my stomach.

"No time at all?" Klaus said seductively.

I wanted to giggle, but remembered what Damon had said and forced myself to turn around and take a step away from him.

"You can't keep appearing and leaving whenever you want to! Do you know how bad I feel about hiding _this_ from my brothers? I don't want to lie to them and frankly I think that the only reason why you're even being so sweet towards me is because you need someone to spy for you. I'm not going to spy for you!" I hissed angrily.

Klaus didn't look so surprised about what I said, but he didn't like hearing it. I rolled my eyes and tried leaving, but he grabbed my wrist and pulled me back to him.

"Althea, you are free of my compulsion," he said. I felt his power on me disappear, but him removing his hold on me didn't make me feel differently about him. "There. I can't use you."

"That doesn't change anything. I love you, but we can't be together. I'm sorry, Nik." I said.

I tried walking away for the second time, but this time Klaus pinned me against a tree, holding my legs up by his waist so we stood as close together as possible. He kissed me passionately and at first I wanted to pull away, but the desire inside me made me do otherwise. I locked my legs tighter around him, wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him back fiercely.

One thing led to another and before I knew it we were lying on the ground with barely any clothes on. I tried stopping myself, but it was like some sort of supernatural power was pulling me towards Klaus like a moth to a flame. I always felt like this whenever I was with Klaus and I hated myself for not being able to resist temptation.

"This is wrong in so many ways… and not just because we're outside on a night with a full moon!" I said as he kissed me gently down along my bare body.

Klaus chuckled. "Don't worry, love. No werewolf will get anywhere near us tonight." he said flirtatiously and moved his lips back up to mine.

"Klaus, I–"

"Althea, you really want to let your brother decide who you can love and cannot love? This… this has nothing to do with all the fight between me and my siblings."

"I'm not so sure the others are going to understand that."

"Screw them! No wait, you can screw me."

I giggled and let go of my worries just this one night, letting him kiss me, bite me and make love to me all night. It felt like a long time since I'd last made love to anyone and to feel Klaus so close just reminded me of how much I loved him and how he loved me.

By the time dawn came we were both sleeping close to each other on the ground and the only sounds I could hear were the sound of nature all around us. I was awakened by the sound of a wolf growling, which of course made me look confusedly around, but then I realized that it was just Klaus sleeping heavily.

"You really are a bit of a dog, aren't you? Whoops, let that be wolf!" I said and laughed.

A smile appeared on his lips and he opened his eyes. He looked so cute in the morning light and sexy at the same time with all that dirt on his body.

"Morning to you too, Allie," he said, placing his hands behind his head. "Did you have a good night sleep?"

I snorted. "Oh, please! I rarely got any sleep thanked to you!"

He grinned. "You're welcome."

Klaus moved up on top of me and kissed me tenderly, moving his fingers down the side of my body, until he reached my thigh.

"Now why do I feel like you make a habit out of sleeping with women in the woods during a full moon, hmm?" I asked teasingly.

"Oh, maybe you should too. It's very, very… liberating." Klaus answered flirtatiously.

I rolled my eyes and pushed him off me, then stood up and began pulling my clothes back on. I needed to get back before Damon realized that I had left… _if_ he didn't know that I was gone. Klaus stood up and began pulling on his clothes as well, but looked around for some reason as if he was afraid someone would come and find us, which was very unlike him.

"Seems your brother is looking for you. You better hurry." Klaus said.

"Oh, shit! If I get in trouble you're getting in trouble too!" I said and swiftly ran back towards the house, running inside just as Damon was about to go out.

"Where the hell have you been?" he snapped.

"Don't snap at me!" I said, fearing that he would smell Klaus' scent on me. "I went for a walk in the woods, because I couldn't sleep."

Wow, lying to my own brother was getting easier! I still felt guilty, though, but as Klaus said – what we'd done in the woods had nothing to do about the war going on between him, his siblings and my brothers.

"When?"

"Just before dawn. Don't worry, I didn't go that far."

I walked away, but Damon quickly blocked my path. "Why are you dirty then? And have leaves in your hair?"

Okay, maybe my lying skills weren't that good…

"Promise me you won't get mad at me." I said hesitantly.

Damon took a step closer to me, so I took a step back and felt the wall behind me. "What. Did. You. Do? Or should I ask you _who_?" he asked angrily.

I gulped. "Um… Elijah," I lied, hoping that he would buy it. "But what do you care? You don't decide whom I allowed to sleep with!" I answered.

Damon raised an eyebrow and looked disgusted. Why was it so hard for him to imagine me with Elijah? Oh, right… it was probably the suits and the whole gentleman behavior.

"You slept with Elijah? In the woods?"

I nodded. "Anything else you want to know, _Dad_?"

Damon shook his head and walked away (thank God), and I hurried upstairs to take a shower. That was close… way too close. And next time I might not be as lucky as today.

**Thanks for reading and please review! ;D**


	14. Betrayed

**A/N: Hii, thanks for the lovely reviews, faves and alerts! :D**

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 13:

It had been a week since Klaus and I almost got caught sleeping together in the woods and although Damon seemed not to suspect anything, then I still feared that he would go to Elijah. He would ask if we'd slept together, which we… well, we had slept together, but that was a long time ago and it was only once.

I tried not to think too much about it and decided to do something normal like going to the Founder's Party and Heritage Display that was held once again.

I missed out on the first one, so I wanted to go and I invited my brothers with me since we were all Salvatores and one of the founding families. I hadn't talked with Elijah since that day he rejected me and I felt awkward about asking him to be my escort, so I went with Alaric instead much to Damon's annoyance.

We drove together to the party and when we arrived I instinctively looked for Stefan, whom I hadn't talked with for a while either. I hoped that he would show up, because he was my brother after all and we always went to parties together.

"Well this seems fun," I said, walking arm in arm with Alaric and Damon. "How was the party like the last time you went here?"

"I don't know. I was too busy trying to find a stupid talisman I didn't need anyway," Damon said grumpily. "Oh yeah, and then I was also poisoned with vervain by Stefan and imprisoned in the basement of our home. What a lovely time that was (!)"

I laughed and so did Alaric, but we entered the Lockwood Mansion and were greeted by the mayor, who was surprised to hear that Damon and Stefan had a sister. We entered her home, though, and I continued looking for Stefan. I didn't find him, but Elena and her friends instead, all dressed up and looking slightly concerned about something.

"There's something I want to show you before you dance with Rick and probably also sleep with him…" Damon said teasingly, making me roll my eyes.

I followed him and he took me to a room where some of the old things were kept. I spotted the old registry from 1864 and on the registry were my brothers and even my own name.

"But I didn't go to the party…?" I said confusedly.

"I know and that's why I wrote it there the night I came. You were still a part of our family even though you didn't actually come."

I smiled and hugged Damon, feeling grateful of having such a good brother. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. Now could you do me the favor and _not_ sleep with Elijah. It's gross to think about and I can't imagine that the sex was good anyway."

I shook my head of him. From what I remembered the one time we did sleep together then Damon was very wrong. Elijah had centuries of experience.

"Oh, you'd be surprised how wrong you are."

Damon wrinkled his nose in disgust and left the room, but I didn't go with him. I wanted to stay for a while and take a look at all the other things that were on display. I found my father's old watch, some of my brothers' clothes and at last I found my diary that was slightly burned and looked too fragile and worn to be touched by anyone.

"_I tried reading it, but it was damaged too much in the fire,_" I heard Stefan say. I turned around and sighed in relief when I saw him here all suited up and looking like his old self. He was smiling and let me hug him when he walked up to me. "I need your help, Althea. I… want your help. I don't want to be like this anymore. Elena is hurting and it's hurting me."

"Of course. I'm glad you came. I've been worried sick for you all week and… I'm so sorry I hit you." I said, cupping his face in my hands.

"It's ok. I deserved it. But let's just forget everything that happened and have a good time tonight. I brought you a drink."

He handed me a glass of champagne, but when I took a sip of my glass I suddenly felt something strong burn my organs and make me feel numb. I fell to the floor and coughed, the taste of vervain in my throat.

"Vervain!" I said hoarsely and looked at Stefan, who stood calmly beside me. "You! You spiked my drink!"

"_No, _we_ spiked your drink_," Damon said, walking inside the room as well. "You really think I would fall for that piss-poor explanation? I mean, it's Elijah we're talking about. And I always know when you're lying, because you're so bad a hiding it."

I growled. "I only did it so I could be with Klaus! I don't work for him. I love him and I swear I haven't told him anything. I just wanted to be with him…"

Damon ignored me and sent Stefan a look. I was injected with more vervain that knocked me completely out, but I had a feeling of where they were taking me.

It hurt that they would think that I was working with Klaus when all I'd done was to be in love with him. I might not have told them the entire truth, but that was because I knew they would react like this.

And when I finally woke up I found myself in one of the basement cellars of our home, lying right next to a lot of vervain plants that weakened me. I coughed the bitter taste out of my throat and tried standing up, but I felt too weak.

To make things worse then I noticed that my Lapis Lazuli necklace was gone, which meant that even if I got out then I couldn't leave the house during daytime. I groaned and felt like killing my brothers for doing this against me.

How could they betray me like that? Hadn't they been in love with someone bad before? Oh, yeah that was right. They'd been in love with the bitch Katherine Pierce.

"I hope you're getting comfortable, because you're not leaving anytime soon," Damon said, standing outside the cellar. "I don't know what Klaus compelled you to think or do, but I'm not letting him use you like that again."

I rolled my eyes. "He's not using me, Damon! And I'm not under his compulsion anymore. He released me from it last week." I snarled.

Damon snorted. "I don't believe that, because my sister wasn't raised to _screw_ the enemy, who by the way also forced her brother to become a ripper again!"

I sighed heavily. "You want to know why I love him? He cares about me and he gave me the freedom I needed when I was about to marry William. I know it's wrong, but you were in love with Katherine, weren't you? You ought to understand how I'm feeling."

Damon sighed as well and leaned his head against the bars on the door's window. "But you're supposed to be the good one… You're our big sister. Had you not left then Katherine wouldn't have gotten between Stefan and I and we wouldn't have fallen in love with her."

I looked away. I was too tired to argue with him and my throat was sore. I blamed Elijah for this. I wouldn't be betraying my brothers if he'd just kissed me again.

"I hope for your sake that you'll realize that Klaus is only trying to use you to get to us. That freak of nature can't love. If he could then he wouldn't have killed his own parents and neutralized all of his siblings."

I said nothing and just watched Damon leave. Maybe he was right. Maybe Klaus was only manipulating with me and trying to get back at Stefan for taking his siblings. I lay down on the ground and closed my eyes, feeling mentally and physically exhausted.

I knew that I was going to stay in here for some time, because my feelings for Klaus wouldn't change just overnight, and I was so pissed off at my brothers that I didn't even want to look at them once I would get out – _if_ I was going to get out.

"Althea." someone said.

I opened my eyes and saw Elijah standing _inside_ the room. He knelt by my side and cupped my face in his hands, surprising me with a soft kiss that made my heart beat faster, but he broke away and suddenly looked guilty.

"I know you love me and trust me – the feelings are mutual – but I can't risk that Klaus will use my feelings for you against me, so… I want you to forget that you're in love with me. I'm only the brother of the man you're trying to kill and nothing more."

I automatically nodded and looked wonderingly at him. "Elijah? What are you doing in here?"

He smiled weakly. "I'm merely checking up on you."

I groaned, but he left and locked the door behind him before leaving. I was left alone in the cellar once again, but I couldn't fall asleep this time. I felt… different. It was as if a part of me was gone and I didn't remember what it was.

I shook my head and decided to try falling asleep. Sleeping was the only thing I could do now and I eventually lost track of time as the days passed by. Every day Damon or Stefan would come with blood for me, but I refused to drink anything and they also tried talking me from loving Klaus, but it was nearly impossible for them to get through to me.

Then as about another week had passed Elena finally came and she was let inside despite the fact that I was starving and could easily drain her dry of her blood if I lost control of myself. She had something with her – a bottle of blood – and it didn't take long for me to find out why she was here.

Either she wanted information or she thought that she could "help" me.

"Really? They're sending you now? I didn't think that my brothers were that stupid, but look at that! They are!" I said grumpily.

Elena sighed and sat down by my feet, still holding the bottle. "I know you must be hungry and I know that starving you to death won't make you stop feeling what you feel for Klaus. So I'm here with a peace offering."

She handed me the bottle, but I tossed it aside. "I'm not drinking anything before they let me out of here. As you said yourself, then I won't stop feeling what I feel for Klaus that easily. They can't force me to stop loving him unless they use compulsion on me and I really hope they won't do that, because if they do then I will lose any respect I have for them."

"Althea, there's something you need to know about Klaus before you keep doing this. Two months ago I lost my aunt, who had nothing to do with this. Klaus kidnapped her and turned her into a vampire against her will only so he could sacrifice her and break his curse..."

I pitied Elena, but what Klaus had done to her wasn't any of my business. I wasn't happy about what he'd done, but I couldn't do anything about it now. It was long before I even returned.

"Stefan only left with him and became a ripper, because he had the only cure to heal Damon, who was dying from a fatal werewolf bite. Before that Stefan was himself and the brother you know."

"Don't you think I know that? It pains me that I couldn't do anything about it and I hate that I love him, but he… he's given me more than you can imagine. He… saved my life and taught me what love is like."

**Thanks for reading and please review! :D**


	15. Second Chance

**A/N: Hii, thanks for the lovely reviews, faves and alerts! :D**

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 14:

Stefan came to check up on me on the 14th day of my imprisonment and I was on the verge of going mad of boredom, hunger and sadness. I could smell that he was carrying two blood bags – both B-positive – from the second he took them out of the refrigerator and the delicious smell made my fangs extend instinctively.

I was so… exhausted, because I hadn't fed for over nearly three weeks (I hadn't had any blood before I was trapped), and it didn't help that I was so close by to a bunch vervain plants.

But Stefan opened the bolted door and stepped inside the room, looking down at me on the ground. He sighed and kneeled by my feet, trying to give me the blood, but I pushed the blood bag away from me with the strength I had left.

"Thea, please… you need to feed," he said, brushing a dirty and tangled lock of hair out of my face. I rolled my eyes and turned so I lay with my back towards him. "I… understand."

I frowned, confused of what he meant. "You don't understand anything…" I said hoarsely.

"Oh, I do. I used to be madly in love with Katherine, remember? I'm sure that you've seen a side of Klaus that we haven't seen, but you need to remember that love can be blind and that Klaus not necessarily is real with you. It took me years to figure that out about Katherine and when I did I was heartbroken. So was Damon."

I moved back to my former position on the ground and looked up at him. I wanted so badly to believe him and to let go of the feelings I had for Klaus, but it was going to be hard. Klaus was like a drug to me and I was a first class junkie.

"I… can't promise that I will stop loving him, but you're my brothers… even if you can be a pain in the ass and did this towards me."

He smiled weakly. "I'm glad to see that I can still make you change your mind even after all these years, but I know that you won't betray us. You're not like that. You may lie and hide things, but you would never betray us."

I wasn't so sure about that. I mean, hadn't I betrayed them by going behind their back and being with Klaus? And hadn't I betrayed them by leaving them in 1862 without saying goodbye? I didn't say anything and just let Stefan help me drain the blood bags for their content.

I felt much better now that I had fed, but I was still dirty and a little hungry, so Stefan helped me out of the cellar and upstairs to Damon's bathroom where I could enjoy a nice long bath in his big standalone bathtub.

I had to avoid the places where the sunlight shone through the windows, because unfortunately Stefan wasn't the one, who had my necklace, but Damon did and he was going to be extremely annoyed when he saw me in his bathtub. Unlike Stefan he was still suspicious of me and my intentions, but I didn't blame him. He'd always been like that around people.

I was in the middle of my bath and playing with the soap bubbles when Damon came home, but I didn't leave his bathtub. I wanted to enjoy the warm water for a little longer time and I also wanted to see the look on his face when he found his sister in his bathtub. This was payback for his part in trapping me, but this was only the first part of my revenge.

"_Althea? What the hell–!_" Damon exclaimed, quickly covering his eyes. "Dear God… My eyes! They're burning!"

I laughed and threw a sponge at him, making him let out a groan and turn around. I didn't understand what his problem was. I mean, it wasn't as if he could see my body when it was covered with soap bubbles and hidden behind the walls of the bathtub.

"That was nothing compared to what I'm going to put you through later," I said teasingly. "I can't believe that you and Stefan would lock me up for two weeks just because I happen to like your archenemy. That's just–no, you know what? I don't want to argue with you. I want to enjoy my bath, get some clean clothes on and then we can talk. Now, shoo!"

Damon rolled his eyes and reluctantly left, and I continued cleaning myself. Now that I had made Damon feel guilty about what he did I only needed to punish him properly and how I was going to do that he would first find out tonight.

After I had cleaned myself I changed into some clean clothes and went downstairs, avoiding the sunlight once again as I made my way over to Damon. He was sitting in the living room with a glass of blood and my necklace in his hand, playing with it tauntingly to annoy me.

"Give me one good reason to give you another chance after how you lied to me." he said.

"I'm your older sister and as your older sister I order you to give back my necklace or I will slap you silly, until you start crying like a little girl!" I said.

Damon knew that I wasn't bluffing and very reluctantly tossed me my necklace. I quickly put it on and then snatched his glass of blood as I sat down next to him, taking a swig of it before he could stop me. He shook his head of me and muttered a few swearwords under his breath.

"I'm keeping an eye on you, Althea. I don't care that you're my sister. I hate people who betray me and you of all people should know that."

Of course I did. "As I said to Stefan, then I can't promise anything, but I'm willing to try for you guys. You are my brother by blood, so I owe that to you and Stefan. I just don't know how to keep Klaus from seeking me up. He knows that I can't resist the way he kisses me or the way he–"

"Okay, too much information! I don't get what you see in him, but I… I'm glad you're at least trying and I hope you can forgive me-no, us for what we did. We didn't mean to hurt you."

I smiled. It was nice to see Damon feel some regret for what he did and it just showed that he really cared about me. Perhaps a little too much sometimes, but I rather wanted an overprotective brother than a coldhearted one, who wanted to see his own siblings dead.

"_I see you let your sister out…_" Elijah said, standing at the doorway of the living room.

He looked intently at me at first before moving his gaze to Damon. I felt like… like he was hiding something from me, but I couldn't remember what it was.

"No, Stefan did. Had it been up to me she should have been locked up for a month or two." Damon said, making me shake my head of him.

"Well, I'm leaving now. I need some fresh air and to stretch my legs a little. And don't worry, I will do whatever I can to avoid Klaus while I'm out." I said teasingly.

Damon snatched his glass back and slurped the rest of the blood down. "Good. Be back before sundown."

I raised an eyebrow. "Okay, _Dad_!"

I walked past Elijah and straight out of the house, but I didn't go for a walk in the woods as I knew that that would be the first place Klaus would be waiting for me. I "borrowed" Damon's blue Camaro convertible and drove into town, then parked it near the Grill and went for a walk.

It was a glorious feeling to be outside and free, but I still couldn't forget about these past three weeks and how horrible I'd felt during the time I was locked up. I needed to put the past behind me and the best way to do so was by going on a shopping trip, so I went from one clothing store to another and bought all the clothes, shoes and accessories that I wanted.

But as I reached the tenth clothing store and went inside to buy myself a new dress I spotted no other than the man I was trying to avoid. He was yelling at the shopping assistant and making her cry, because she'd charged too much from his credit card by accident. I felt bad for the girl, because she was obviously just a teenager and new, so I walked up to them and poked Klaus in his side.

"Seriously, Klaus? You're making a teenage girl cry now?" I asked with crossed arms, glaring firmly at him.

Klaus looked at me and I was surprised to see how relieved he was to see me. Perhaps he did have some feelings for me after all…

"Well, I'm not going to pay 100 bucks extra for something that only costs 50 bucks." he answered.

I rolled my eyes and turned to the girl, making her look into my eyes. "Stop crying and just give him some money back, yes? We won't tell your boss anything."

She sniffed, but took out 100 bucks from the cash register and handed them to Klaus, then disappeared in to the room behind her. I sighed and went to take a look at the clothes, determined to ignore Klaus no matter what, but it was hard when Klaus walked up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist, kissing me gently on the side of my neck.

"I almost thought you'd left town or something… where you've been, love?" he asked charmingly.

I pulled myself out of his embrace and took a step away from him, mentally forcing myself to ignore the temptation to touch him.

"You don't know where I've been at all?" I asked.

He shook his head and looked worried. "Did something happen to you?" he said.

I was tempted to tell him about how my brothers had locked me up, but the longer time I spent with him the harder it became for me to resist temptation. So I shook my head and tried walking out only to be stopped by him before I reached the door.

"They know about us?"

I sighed, but nodded. "I… really like you, Klaus, but you're bad for me. I can't… I can't be with you anymore. We tried, but this just doesn't work out. And don't try to change my mind. We both know that it'll only make things worse for us."

Klaus looked pissed off, but I knew that this was the right thing to do. It was either him or my brothers and I would always choose my brothers first. I just hoped that Klaus would understand that and if his feelings for me were real, then he would accept it.

"I have to go."

I took one step and felt Klaus' hand grab my wrist and he pulled me in to his embrace, trying to kiss me, but I moved my head so he ended up kissing my cheek instead. I couldn't screw this second chance up no matter how much it pained me to let go of him.

"You're making a mistake, you know. You won't find happiness if you keep listening to them. They're so caught up in their own world that they don't see you. I mean, didn't you run away from home, so you could be happy? So you could find love?"

Oh, he was good… a little too good for my liking. I sighed heavily and shook my head. "Leaving my brothers was the biggest mistake I ever made. I don't want to, but… sometimes you just have to make a sacrifice for the better."

I gave him one last kiss, but he didn't kiss me back and just watched me leave the clothing store in silence. I forced myself not to look back and just kept on walking, telling myself mentally that I was doing the right thing and that what I'd said was actually true even though it didn't feel that way.

I decided to go home with my seven shopping bags, but to my surprise I only found Elijah in the house and he was looking at an old photograph from the 19th century of… me. I saw the way he looked at it and wondered if what he was hiding had something to do with me.

"I broke up with Klaus today," I said and parked myself on the couch. He didn't bother hiding the picture because he knew that I'd seen it, but merely placed on the bookshelf behind him. "God, how I hope that I'm not making another mistake… I really cared about him, you know."

Elijah opened his mouth to say something, but stopped himself and decided to leave the house.

**Thanks for reading and please review! ;D**


	16. Dating An Original

**A/N: Hiii, thanks for the sweet reviews! :D**

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 15:

"Mmm… this tastes yummy," I said, licking the rest of the frosting off my fingers. Elena giggled and carefully decorated the cake we'd baked together this afternoon with a little help from Bonnie. It was for Caroline's 18th birthday party tomorrow and I hoped she would like it. "Stefan and I once baked a cake together back in 185…6, I think, and it was a total mess. I was also only 13 then."

"Oh, I'd like to see that," Elena said. "What else did you use to do together back then?"

I thought back to 1856 and smirked when I remembered something very amusing. "Well, there was this one time where we played a prank on Damon. We…" I giggled. "We tied his boots together, threw a bucket of cold water on him and said that the house was on fire. He always slept late, so we thought we'd give him a proper wake up call."

Elena and Bonnie burst out laughing, probably wanting to have seen that too. But hey, when you lived in a century where you didn't have a TV or all these sorts of electronic devices we had to improvise a little and Damon became the victim of our amusement.

"How was your mother like? Damon and Stefan rarely talk about their parents and they haven't even mentioned their mother at all…"

The smile on my lips faded and I sighed heavily of the thought of our mother. I still remembered how she looked and how I adored her. She loved me so much when my father seemed more focused on his first born son and forgot all about me.

"She was… beautiful and sweet and… she loved us all so much. Maybe a little too much sometimes. Stefan didn't get to know her, because she died while giving birth to him, but I've told him everything I know and he's seen paintings and pictures of her."

"Oh… I'm sorry to hear that. It must have been hard to lose your mother at a young age."

"It was, but after she died my father became more protective of him. He always said 'I only have one little girl', which used to annoy me immensely. I wanted the kind of freedom he gave Damon and Stefan, but despite all that he was a good father in the end."

Elena smiled and we decided to forget the depressing subject and start baking cupcakes as well. I was in the middle of putting the cake in the fridge when we heard a knock on the door, so I quickly went out to open and was surprised to see Elijah here after how he gave me the cold shoulder.

"Hello, Mr. I-like-to-ignore-people…" I said teasingly.

He raised an eyebrow. "It is frightening how much you remind me of your brother, but I apologize for leaving like that. I was hoping that maybe we could have a talk in private." Elijah said.

I hesitated, but nodded and told my friends that I was going for a walk. Elijah and I went nowhere in particular, but just walked down the streets of Mystic Falls next to each other. It felt kindda nice as if we'd done it before, but I knew that we hadn't.

"So… what do you want to talk with me about?" I asked curiously.

"There's one more coffin you don't know about that your brother is hiding for us." Elijah answered.

I stopped walking abruptly. "You have another sibling?"

He shook his head. "It's not… it's someone else. Someone I knew back in the 11th century. Who's in it doesn't matter right now. What matters is that it needs to be protected. Will you help doing that?"

I nodded. "Of course. If it's important to Klaus, then we need to keep it hidden."

"Yes… and there's another thing I want to talk with you about."

I raised an eyebrow. "Which is…?"

"I thought that making you forget about your feelings towards me would help with everything, but it has only made it worse for me. I'm in love with you, Althea."

I frowned and tried understanding what he was talking about, but then he suddenly stepped closer to me and made me look deep into his eyes.

"I release you from my compulsion. You will remember everything I made you forgetting."

I blinked once and felt the memories and feelings come crashing back. I remembered how Elijah had rejected me twice, how I felt about him whenever he looked at me and the time we'd spent together after Klaus made me forget about him.

"I apologize for doing what I did. It was a mistake."

"A mistake? You compelled me, Elijah! I trusted you and then you would do something like that towards your own friend. I don't know what infuriates me more; that you reject me two times and make me forget about you or that you suddenly change your mind now that I broke up with Klaus."

"Thea, I never meant to–"

"That might be, but you hurt me anyway, so I guess it's my turn to reject you now! Goodbye, Elijah."

I went to leave, but Elijah grabbed my wrist and pulled me back, surprising me with an impulsive and passionate kiss that felt so overwhelmingly good that I accidentally let out a moan, while someone was walking past us. I blushed, but kept kissing Elijah and wanted to feel more of this passionate side of his.

It was like he'd hid a completely whole other side of him.

But I remembered why I was angry at him and pushed him away; slapping him hard across his face for thinking that one fiery kiss could make me forget the pain he'd caused me. Elijah stood still, though, and didn't attack me like I feared, but he did rub his now red cheek a little.

"That was definitely not gentlemanly done of you!" I said, slightly out of breath from the kiss.

Elijah smiled weakly. "I apologize, but I don't want you to hate me. I have lost the love of my life before because I never took a chance, but now I'm taking one in hope of that you will forgive me."

I crossed my arms and looked at him intently for a moment. I felt like scolding him, but I understood why he would feel compelled to hide his feelings for me. I wrinkled my nose of annoyance and shook my head of him.

"Okay, fine! But don't think it'll be like the last time we were together and I definitely will be forcing you to buying me presents again. Oh, and perhaps we shouldn't tell anyone about us – especially not Damon or Stefan."

"I wasn't intending to anyway."

Of course not. Because telling Damon that I was dating an Original and then the brother of the hybrid he wanted to kill would make go into overprotective-brother mode. I didn't know how Stefan would react, but with everything going on between us I didn't dare to find out.

"I should be going back. It's Caroline's birthday tomorrow and–"

"I understand. Let me follow you home." Elijah said.

"Just like old times, huh?" I teased.

He laughed. "Yes, just like old times, but it would be best if I did not hold your arm."

I pouted. "But you have so strong and firm arms…"

"Another time, Althea. Another time."

I sighed, but walked back with him to Elena's house and on our way back I couldn't help but look around worriedly in case Klaus was nearby, watching us and becoming very pissed off.

I didn't like moving on so fast, but as much as I loved him then it would never work out between us. It would be easier if I just forgot about him, because then the thought of losing him wouldn't be so painful and I'd waited for decades for Elijah to say what he said today.

"Does this have anything to do with me going out for a drink with Finn?" I asked suspiciously.

"Maybe…" Elijah said. "Maybe not. That depends if anything happened between you and him."

I smirked. "To your information, then we only had a drink, so no nothing happened. But it's nice to see that even you can become jealous."

"I'm not jealous. I just don't want Finn to think that he can hit on every woman I fall for."

I giggled and felt the need to kiss him, but I reminded myself of that we were out in public and poked him teasingly in his side.

"Just because I admitted that I love you, doesn't mean that you get to bully me like you used to bully your brothers."

I rolled my eyes. "I should never have told you about that."

He chuckled and looked at me with a content look in his eyes that I hadn't seen for a long time. It was good to see him smile and stop looking so damn serious all the time.

"Well, this walk of ours have been… fun. Let's not do it again, so people can stare at us."

Elijah smirked and I could tell that he wanted to give me a kiss before he left, but he managed to control his urges too and merely nodded curtly. I went back inside and sighed, feeling my cheeks turn warm of the memory of our fiery kiss.

"Althea? What happened? You look like you just got kissed, but that can't be when you just went with Elijah." Bonnie said curiously.

I blushed even more of that. "Why does everyone think that Elijah isn't capable of being impulsive or naughty like Klaus? But no, nothing happened. I'm just… frustrated." I lied and walked back in to the kitchen.

Elena and Bonnie still snickered, though, making me fear that they were going to figure out what had just happened.

"How do you even know Elijah? The two of you seemed to be close." Elena said wonderingly.

"Oh, we met in 1862. He taught me how to control my thirst for blood and how to use my abilities properly. We've been good friends since then, but we parted before the Second World War." I said.

"Just friends, huh?" Bonnie teased.

I groaned. "Yes, we're just friends. As you said, then nothing could have happened between me and Elijah."

They looked at each other and were thinking the same thing, but I ignored their silly behavior and continued baking the cupcakes with them. We eventually made 20 delicious-looking cupcakes and I snatched two of them for me and a lucky someone, whom I hadn't figured out who was yet.

I drove back home and was surprised to find the house completely empty, but since I couldn't bully Damon into doing something for me in exchange for the cupcake I just placed it in the kitchen and wrote a note saying _Touch it and you'll poop for days!_

I was saving it for later, so I could give it to Elijah when I had the chance and hopefully I would see him soon. I had some things I needed to discuss with him and it wasn't just about our secret relationship or about Klaus.

"_Now that is one fine cupcake…_" Klaus said, making me freeze up and turn. He stood right at the doorway of the kitchen, smirking mischievously. "I hope that's for me, because I'm hungry!"

**Thanks for reading and please review! ;D**


	17. How To Love

**A/N: Hii, thanks for the lovely reviews and sorry about the lateness - my internet died T_T**

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 16:

"_Klaus?_" I heard Damon say confusedly.

I was still standing in the kitchen, holding my breath without realizing it, and quickly turned my gaze towards Damon, who saw my scared facial expression.

"Ah, Damon! I was just about to snatch that last cupcake." Klaus said casually and walked calmly up to me.

He stood purposely close to me as he took the cupcake and took a bite of it. I could tell that Damon was just as concerned as I was, but none of us said anything. When I tried taking a step towards my brother I suddenly felt Klaus grab my wrist and stopped me.

"Did you bake this?" he asked.

I nodded and a smile spread on his lips. "It's quite delicious, I have to admit. Just like your blood."

Damon rolled his eyes. "What are you doing here, Klaus?"

"I'm just paying your sweet, beautiful and clever sister a visit. What else?"

Of course Damon didn't believe that that was the entire truth and neither did I. Klaus was here to retaliate for what my brothers had made me do and possibly to take me back. I didn't know what was worst – that I actually wished that he would just kidnap me already or that I hoped that he would never bother me again.

"Get the hell out of my house or I will drive a stake so far up your–"

"Klaus, can I speak alone with you for a moment?" I quickly asked, interrupting Damon.

Klaus nodded and ate the last of the cupcake before following me out of the house. We didn't go far away from it, but we were out of hearing distance, so Damon couldn't eavesdrop on us.

"What are you doing here? You can't just come and–"

"Because I'm trying to make a point, _Althea_," Klaus said firmly. "I don't care about what your brothers think about me, but I sure as hell am not going to let them take you away from me. You're mine, Althea. Mine. I _made_ you into what you are today and they should be thanking me for even saving you that night."

I closed my eyes as I sighed heavily and felt so frustrated about all of this. Why couldn't he accept that it wouldn't work out between us? Couldn't he see that he was bringing me in danger and ruining my relationship with my brothers?

"You know I can't choose you over my brothers and I don't want you to make me choose between you and them. We can't be together, Klaus! Just accept it. I have…" I said.

Klaus snorted. "Yes, I did see that earlier today when you were making out with my older brother in the street."

My face must without a doubt have turned pale when he said that, but I didn't bother trying to deny it. I did have feelings for Elijah. I'd had that for a very long time and they were much different from the feelings I had for Klaus.

"You don't understand at all, Niklaus. Sometimes you just can't get what you want and sometimes you realize that maybe you're not supposed to get what you want."

I turned around and walked back inside, but before I went inside I looked over my shoulder and found the area vacant. I muttered a curse and went in to the living room where Damon sat as usual with a drink in his hand. He handed me one, but I slurped it down all in once and then took his and slurped it down as well.

"Hard day?" he asked.

"You bet ya! Can this day even get worse? No wait, don't answer that." I answered and parked my ass on the couch.

"I wonder why that pesky hybrid is being so persistent about you. It can't be out of love because a man who'll kill his own parents and neutralize his entire family does not know how to love."

I wasn't so sure about that, but I didn't say anything about it. "Can we please talk about something else that doesn't have anything to do with Klaus?"

Damon sat down next to me, pouring some more Bourbon into my glass. "Actually, I was wondering why it is that Ric says that he saw you making out with Elijah today."

For Christ's sake! Had we really been that indiscreet? I groaned and covered my face with my palms of embarrassment, feeling so incredibly weird about talking with Damon about this.

"It's… a very long story, but it didn't mean anything." I lied, hoping he wouldn't notice that I was lying.

"Aha… so you usually randomly make out with boring men in the middle of the day?

I felt my cheeks turning warmer and rosier, but I removed my hands and looked at him. "It didn't mean anything. It was just… a misunderstanding."

"Fine, let's call it a 'misunderstanding' then (!)"

Oh, how I hated Damon's sarcasm… "Shut up, Damon! God, this is so embarrassing."

"Why? It was just a 'misunderstanding'."

He was mocking me now, so I elbowed him right in his side, making him groan in pain. "Forget about it or I'll give you an atomic wedgie, okay?"

"No, thank you! I'd rather get staked than get one of those again."

I giggled of the memory of the last time I gave him one. It was when he was only 16 and had stolen my diary. He'd begun to read the private parts out loud, so I punished him the hard way. He never dared entering my bedroom without my permission after that.

"Even if it did mean something, then… I don't mind. Despite what Elijah did, then he seems like a good and honorable man. And he's really awesome at killing werewolves with his bare hands, but don't tell him I said that." Damon said.

I raised an eyebrow. "He has killed werewolves with his bare hands? When?" I asked curiously.

"A long time ago. It was before everything became so messed up and difficult." he answered.

I wished I'd go back to Mystic Falls when Elijah came here, because then I might not end up having to make all these annoying decisions.

"Elijah and I did use to date back in 1862-63. It wasn't anything serious, but he was there for me and taught me how to control my hunger, to use compulsion properly and… and he removed some of the guilt I felt about leaving you and Stefan."

Damon didn't comment on that, but merely took a swig of his drink and just as I was getting ready to go upstairs my dear little brother entered the house, making me smile widely.

"Little bro!" I exclaimed.

Stefan stopped walking abruptly and almost looked frightened by my good mood. He looked towards Damon and raised an eyebrow.

"Is she drunk?" he asked worriedly.

Damon grinned. "Maybe a little, yeah." he answered.

I rolled my eyes, finished my third drink and went over to hug Stefan tightly, squeezing him so hard that he almost couldn't breathe. I let go of him, though, and he pushed me down in an armchair because I was a little tipsy.

"Why is she drunk anyway? That's not like Althea."

"Oh, you'd be surprised what our sister is capable of doing. You heard she made out with Elijah today?"

Stefan's eyes widened, so I quickly butted in. "He's lying! That big fat vamp is lying his ass off! I did not make out with Eli!"

Okay, maybe I was starting to get a little drunk. I always did easily get drunk and it didn't matter that I'd been drinking for more than a century.

"Really, Damon? You let her get drunk? You know she's having a hard time." Stefan said angrily.

"Yeah, and that's why I gave her the drink. I can't help that she gets easily drunk and drank my drink too!" Damon said.

"Um, hellooo! I'm right here!" I said, waving at him.

Stefan groaned, but not because of me. "I hope you're happy. If something happens to her it's on you."

I stood up quickly – perhaps a little too quickly – and almost fell in the process, but Stefan quickly caught me and I smiled when I saw someone else enter the house.

"Hi, Elena!" I exclaimed cheerfully. "You want a drink?"

I pulled myself out of Stefan's grip and filled my glass with Bourbon, but when I went to pour Bourbon into another glass the bottle was taken from me by Damon.

"I think you've had enough, sis," he said and went to take the glass too, but I slurped it all down and felt my emotions turning numb. "Allie!"

"Oh, shush! I'm going to the Grill!" I said and swiftly left before any of them could stop me.

I needed to get out and to forget about Klaus and I didn't care if I would get a major hangover in the morning. I just wanted to forget.

However, when I was halfway at the Grill I was stopped by Elijah, who probably had been warned about me walking around drunk in the area. I gave up trying to get past him and just wrapped my arms around him, wanting to be close to him for a moment.

"He knows, Eli… he saw us." I said quietly.

Elijah didn't have to ask to know who I was referring to and sighed heavily. "Is this why you're so intoxicated?"

"Partly… I miss you."

He smiled weakly and took off his jacket, putting it over my shoulders to keep me warm even though he didn't have to.

"Come, let's go home. Since our secret didn't stay a secret for that long, then we might as well tell the truth."

I groaned. "Damon is going to use it to bully me. I know he will!"

"Oh, I won't allow that to happen. I promise."

I smiled and gave Elijah a kiss on his cheek. Being with him was just what I needed right now to calm the storm of emotions I'd tried to numb. I walked some of the way, but the alcohol was really starting to affect me badly, so Elijah carried me on his back like a gentleman all the way back to my home, talking with me about the old memories of how we used to have fun back in 1862.

**Thanks for reading and please review! ;D**


	18. Hangover

**A/N: Hii, thanks for the lovely reviews! ;D**

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 17:

The smell of coffee hung in the air and filled my lungs, making me instinctively smile with my eyes still closed. I realized that I wasn't dreaming about the smell and opened my eyes, looking to my right where I found Elijah sat by my side with a cup of coffee for me. I turned around to lie on my back and sat up, thanking him for making coffee with a kiss.

"Mmm! That is one delicious coffee!" I said, smiling brightly. "When did you get up?"

"About an hour ago. I couldn't sleep because you snored too much. Like always." Elijah said teasingly.

I blushed. "I do not snore!"

"You do. Ask your brothers. I'm sure they'll be happy to confirm it."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, shush or I am banning you from touching my lips."

He smiled and kissed me anyway; taking my cup from me and placing it on the nightstand, so he could push me gently back down against the mattress and kissed me passionately. I wrapped my arms around his neck and deepened the kiss, ignoring how hangover I actually felt right now after drinking as much as I did yesterday.

I'd missed everything about Elijah and now that he no longer was pushing me away on purpose I couldn't wait to feel him close to me again. He seemed to be feeling the same way, because when I rolled us over so I was on top he helped me take off my bra and I with his shirt.

I still remembered the first time we made love and how blissful everything had felt, but this time I could sense a slight change in Elijah. It felt like he was giving all of himself instead of holding back and fearing that what he was doing with me would be our downfall.

Elijah explored every inch of my body with his lips, a content look on his always serious face that made me smile and forget about yesterday's event.

Today was all about us being together and I didn't care if Damon or Stefan was going to overhear us. I had overheard Damon lots of times back when we were still human and now it was payback time! God, I was such a mean big sister!

"You should be naked more often and stop hiding those gorgeous abs of yours," I said teasingly, moving my kisses down his muscular chest. He smiled at me and suddenly moved me back down under him with a playful smile on his lips. "Have I told you that I love you?"

"You've only expressed it about a hundred times, but it's nice to hear you say it again."

I smiled brightly. "I do love you, Elijah. I always did."

I didn't know if it was possible for one to love two men at the same time, but I definitely knew that what I felt for Klaus was completely different from what I felt for Elijah, but the feelings were equally strong and addictive. Maybe that was why I had a so hard time letting go of him and was spending time with him behind my brothers' backs.

"I love you too, Althea. I never stopped doing that."

I could have squealed like a little girl now, because the way he made me feel was so… heavenly and wild at the same time. I kissed Elijah instead and we continued making love – none of us ready to stop or return to our problems just yet.

It was first when people were starting to get really impatient downstairs that we decided to get some clothes on, but we took our time on purpose and helped each other getting dressed. I wanted Elijah to wear jeans for once and a normal shirt, but nope – he absolutely had to wear his damn suits all the time!

"If you're wearing a suit, then I'm wearing a short dress." I said.

"You are not. Even if you do then Damon will surely stop you from leaving the house." Elijah said.

I groaned. "You'd think that he didn't care about what his siblings wore, but apparently that doesn't apply to me."

"I would do the same if I caught Rebekah wearing a short dress."

"You're supposed to agree with me!"

He chuckled and started doing his tie, while I pulled my jeans on. I helped Elijah with his tie because I was distracting him so much that he couldn't concentrate and made sure to make it just like he liked it. Not too tight, but not too loose either.

"I could eat you right now… you look that good!" I said.

"Don't flirt with me. That's how we ended up getting late to today's party." Elijah said.

I grinned. "Oh yeah, right. Got it. No more flirting until we get home. But what party are we going to?"

"_I _am going to a social gathering at the Lockwood Mansion, while you are celebrating Caroline's birthday."

I pouted. "But I wanna go with you! I love parties."

He smiled and took my hands in his, kissing them both softly. "I know, but you can't go to a fine party like that. Besides, I don't think this is the kind of parties you like."

"Bah! I am going and you can't do anything to stop me! Go down to the car and I'll be there in five minutes."

Elijah sighed weakly, but left my bedroom and went downstairs. I swiftly searched my closet for the clothes I'd bought the day I ran into Klaus in the shop and found a simple and cute blue summer dress along with a pair of lovely black pumps that had grey bowties on them. I also swiftly curled my hair and might have spent five more minutes than I said I would, but that was only because I wanted to look good for Elijah like I did back in 1862.

When I finally came outside Elijah was leaning against Damon's black car with Damon standing right beside him, looking annoyed about having to wait so long for me.

"Well? Let's go!" I said.

"Says the girl who spent nearly 15 minutes on getting ready!" Damon said grumpily.

"You wanted me to look like I'd just had sex with an Original?"

Damon's eyes widened and I saw Elijah look away out of embarrassment, but I didn't care. We were adults, so it couldn't be _that_ weird for him to talk about sex with me… oh wait, I forgot we were siblings!

"Let's just go. I need a drink to erase that picture from my mind."

I giggled and got in the back with Elijah, and Damon drove quickly to the Lockwood Mansion, not even bothering to say anything to us before jumping out of the car and going inside the second we arrived. He really needed that drink apparently.

I shook my head of him, took Elijah's arm in mine and walked with him inside the house. We greeted a lot of people I didn't know, but I knew that they were descendants of the founding families and about as rich as my own family was over a century ago.

"Too boring for you yet?" Elijah asked with a smile that seemed to be stuck on him for the rest of the night.

I didn't blame him for being happy. The man had just gotten laid and he wasn't the only one, who'd enjoyed it a lot.

"Nope, not yet, but I will be needed a glass of champagne." I answered.

"Fine, but only _one_. I don't want you to get drunk again and start singing Bad Romance again. I know you have a lovely voice, but I don't want to hear the same song 25 times in a row!"

I giggled. Oops! My bad. I didn't plan to burst out singing it more than 10 times, but I was just so drunk yesterday. I waited in the living room and watched Damon talk with the mayor, while Elijah went to get us both a drink.

As I waited I hear the voice of someone I immediately recognized as Klaus and went around the staircase to find him talking with someone from the council. I didn't want to talk with him after our last conversation, but I knew that he knew that I was here, so tried being mature and went up to him to find out why exactly he was here and dressed so nicely.

"Ah, there she is! This is Althea Salvatore. Her brother is the current head of the council, but she is the oldest Salvatore." Klaus said.

I greeted the other members absently and quickly moved my gaze back to Klaus, who was smiling and acting as if he wasn't up to anything when we all knew he was. As soon as the others had left he turned his gaze to me and smiled brighter.

"You lost my brother on the way?" he asked tauntingly.

"No, he's getting me a drink, but what exactly are you doing here?" I answered.

He looked up and down at me for a moment, making me blush on purpose. "Just getting to know people. I mean, what is the point of living here if I don't know anyone. You?"

As if! He was so up to something. "Oh, the same. I–"

"_Niklaus_." Elijah said firmly, stepping up to us.

I could tell that Elijah was angry, because he was holding the champagne glass so tightly that it broke a bit. I took it out of his hand and hid the broken champagne glass in a plant.

"Hello, brother. Looking very alive tonight," Klaus joked, but the angry look in Elijah's eyes didn't disappear. "You cannot still be mad at me for daggering you. I did reunite you with our siblings as agreed, did I not?"

"Yes, but you forgot to mention that you were going to dagger me, not tell me the truth about how _you_ murdered our mother and now also our father." Elijah said angrily.

I stood between the two brothers and was feeling very awkward standing here when they were obviously both in the mood to fight. I pushed both of them a little away from each other and turned to Elijah, cupping his face in my hands and making him look at me.

"Don't. It's not worth it." I said, hoping he would listen to me.

"Once again you manage to fall in love with the woman I love. Bravo, brother. That is very brotherly done of you (!)" Klaus said sarcastically.

I raised an eyebrow at that, but before I could ask Elijah had already left the room. I guessed that he left, so he wouldn't lose control and get into a fight with Klaus, but I wasn't going to let Klaus get away with provoking Elijah, so I turned around, slapped him across his face and then walked after Elijah, hoping to catch him before he left the house too.

I found Elijah standing outside in the large backyard, taking a deep breath to calm himself down. I walked up behind him and wrapped my arms around his chest, giving his shoulder a soft kiss.

"Ignore him. He just wants to get under your skin," I said. "Besides, I still love you."

Elijah turned around, the anger gone and replaced with a smile. "And I still love you, Althea."

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	19. The Coffin

**A/N: Hii, thanks for the lovely reviews! :D**

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 18:

"What are you doing?" Stefan asked, frowning.

I moved my gaze from the beautiful blue sky and looked at my youngest brother, who'd finally arrived at the old witch house. I grabbed his hand and made him lie down in the grass with me, wanting to talk with him before I told him why I was here.

"Why did you scare the shit out of Elena last night? I understand that you wanted to get those annoying hybrids out of town, but really? Threatening to kill her is a little over top." I said.

Stefan groaned. "You don't understand, Althea. I had to do it to make Klaus believe that I'm capable of anything to stop him. He ruined my life, so now I'm ruining his by being the better villain."

I sighed. "Fine, do what you want, but just… think about what you're doing before you do it. You might end up losing more than you wanted to lose."

He said nothing and just looked up towards the blue sky, looking deep in thought. I took his hand in mine and we stayed in the grass for the next half hour, just looking at the sky and the clouds as they formed in all sorts of ways.

"Why exactly are you here, Thea?" Stefan asked curiously.

"To help you of course," I answered. "Damon and Elijah let me know that you're guarding the last coffin, so if you need help opening it, then I'm always in the mood to destroy things."

He smiled weakly. "Thank you, but I don't think you can destroy the coffin with your power. It's locked with a spell."

I looked at him. "Why would a coffin be locked with a spell? No, _who _is so important or dangerous that the coffin would need to be locked?"

"Elijah and his siblings must know who it is, because they were probably there when the spell was put on the coffin."

I sat up and was about to say something when I suddenly spotted Damon walking towards us, looking a tad annoyed of Stefan after what he'd done last night.

"Hi, baby bro!" I yelled, making him slow down a little and look confusedly at me.

"Is she drunk again?" he asked.

I wrinkled my nose of annoyance. "I'm not drunk! Why can't I be happy to see my brother without being drunk?" I answered.

Damon smirked and helped me get up, while Stefan got up on his own. "Anything new about the coffin yet?"

We both shook our head. "Well, you haven't let me lose on it yet, so maybe I should take a look now."

"Um, Althea… I don't think that's such a–"

"Shh, let her see for herself." Damon interrupted.

I shook my head of him and kept walking towards the house, walking straight inside, but I suddenly felt something block my way and then my necklace stopped working. My skin started burning, so I quickly jumped out of the house and under the shadow of a tree.

Damon burst out laughing and I understood why he wanted me to go inside. He knew that something freaky would happen, that little bastard! I ran towards Damon as fast as I could and tackled him to the ground.

"That was so not funny!" I hissed.

"Oh, I think it was! But nice to know that the witches don't like you too – probably because of the fact that you screwed Klaus or something." Damon said.

I rolled my eyes and stepped off Damon, allowing him to get back up. "How the hell are we supposed to guard the coffin if we can't even get in?"

"I can get in," Stefan said. "The witches know that I'm trying to stop Klaus, which is what they're trying to too, so even if Klaus somehow gets inside the house, then he won't be able to find the coffin. The witches are hiding it with magic."

"That was still not funny. They can't just say that I'm bad just because I slept with the guy, but you know what? I don't have time for this anyway. I'm going to the Grill." I said.

I left the haunted witch house, but I didn't head to the Grill like I'd said. I just didn't want them to know that I was going to see Klaus, because I needed to talk with him about last night.

I had heard that he had started a building project and was making a house for him and his siblings, which I at first thought was weird and Elijah was just annoyed about it, but I knew that Klaus loved his family more than he let on sometimes.

When I arrived at the big house and was about to knock on the door, it was suddenly opened by Klaus, who was in the middle of drinking a glass of blood. He eyed me from head to toe and a smirk appeared on his face. I didn't need to be a mind reader to know what he was thinking about.

"Either you're here to scold me for last night or you've dumped my brother and want me back." he said.

"Don't get your hope up too high about the latter, because that's not why I'm here." I said.

He rolled his eyes and took a step aside. "Scolding it is."

I stepped inside and could see how close Klaus was of finishing the interior of the home. It seemed it would only take another month before he could move the furniture in and decorating it as he pleased. I walked in to what looked like the living room and suddenly felt Klaus wrap his arms around me from behind, just holding me close to him.

"We shouldn't have to fight," he said. "Or be kept from each other."

I sighed and turned around to face him. "I know, but you made your choices and I made mine. There's nothing more to say to that matter." I said.

"I refuse to accept that. You can keep lying to yourself and tell your brothers that you feel nothing for me, but we both know that isn't true."

I groaned and took a step away from him. It was getting harder and harder for me to forget about my feelings for him when he kept reminding me about them.

"I heard that you saved Caroline last night too… Thank you. No one deserves to die on their birthday." I said, wanting to talk about something else.

Klaus said nothing and finished his drink, then walked in to another room. I followed him and found him staring out of the window, looking out towards the horizon. He looked so lonely and with all of his hybrids now gone he was all by himself.

"I love Elijah, Klaus. I've loved him for a long time, so please don't screw my relationship with him up. I… need him in my life right now."

"Fine, then go and be happy with my brother. But do remember that this means that I won't protect you or keep you out of this business anymore. If I feel like killing you to get back at your brother I will do that. Understand?"

It hurt that Klaus was being so bitter about this, but I understood and knew that he wasn't going to see me as the woman he loved anymore. I was one of his enemies now.

"This is so unfair," I said quietly. "I don't want to kill you."

Klaus looked at me and suddenly walked over to me, wrapping his arms tightly around me. I knew that it was wrong of me to feel this way about him, but how did you stop loving someone who freedom, taught you how to love and made me what I was today.

"You shouldn't have come here," he said quietly. "I'm not letting you go again."

I tried getting out of Klaus' embrace, but I suddenly felt a sharp pain as he injected vervain into my neck. My legs started turning numb, but Klaus quickly caught me as I collapsed and gently placed me on the floor.

"I hope you can forgive me one day."

I tried staying awake, but the vervain forced me to fall asleep and I finally just let the darkness overtake my mind. I didn't regret going over to Klaus, but I regretted letting my guards down and giving him the chance to take me as his prisoner for real this time. I felt him drag me somewhere unknown and something burned my body as he placed it around it.

As I began regaining consciousness and could open my eyes I saw vervain soaked chains around my body and it was so dark inside the dungeon-like room that I couldn't see anything except for myself chained to a chair. I heard the sound of someone arguing upstairs and at first I couldn't make out the voices, but then I heard one of them say the name "Elijah".

"For fuck sake…" I muttered and tried getting free of the chains.

The more I fought the more it hurt, so I took a deep breath and tried to calm down. I tuned in on their conversation and could hear that Elijah was more than a little pissed off.

"_I know that you have Althea and I'm not leaving before you hand her back!_" Elijah snarled.

"_Well, that doesn't matter, because sooner or later you're going to move into this house along with the others._" Klaus said casually.

I heard a loud crash followed by another loud crash and knew that they were fighting now. "_You bastard! Haven't you taken enough from me? You really have to take Althea away from me too? We both know that you're not capable of loving anyone, because if you were then our parents wouldn't be dead and we wouldn't hate you!"_

I sighed heavily. "_You are wrong, Elijah… as always. I am not giving you anything… unless you of course give me your support in return and help me like before._"

"_Help you? You betrayed me the last time I helped you! You can't keep Althea locked up somewhere forever! I will find her and if not, then one of her brothers will._"

Elijah left the house and slammed the door shut. I tried saying something, but my voice was raspy and weak, so I relaxed and saved my strength for later.

Klaus went down to the room I was in and I saw a pain or sadness in his eyes that made me feel a twinge in my heart.

"Are you going to keep me in here forever?" I asked quietly, my voice almost too weak to be heard.

"No, only until I get back what is mine." he answered.

I sighed. "You can't continue doing this, Nik. Someone will end up hurt or even worse… dead."

"I know, but mark my words – it won't be me or you."

He turned around and left, and all I could do now was to wait, until he felt like it was time for me to be released or until one of my brothers somehow saved me.

I hoped for the first, because I didn't want my brothers - particularly Stefan - to come and get themselves killed trying to save their foolish sister, who couldn't stay away from her hybrid ex-boyfriend.

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	20. Serious Men

**A/N: Hii, thanks for the lovely reviews! ;D**

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 19:

"_What do you call this dance?" Elijah asked curiously, holding his palms opposite mine but without touching them._

"_I do not know actually," I said and giggled. "But I do know that it is like… ballroom dancing only here you are not allowed to touch me."_

_Elijah sighed. "A shame. I would have loved to dance properly with you."_

_He suddenly picked me up from the floor and spun around, making me laugh as always over his silliness. He let me down carefully and took my hand in his, wanting to dance "properly" with me as he said it. We danced the waltz at first, but then Elijah suddenly surprised me again by moving me in ways that would be deemed as inappropriate._

"_And what is this dance called?" I asked, trying not to step over his toes._

"_I believe it is called the tango. I saw a pair dance like this when I went to Argentina five years ago…" Elijah answered, spinning me around so I stood with my back against his chest. _

_He made the burning desire inside me grow and I couldn't stop myself from wondering when we were going to take the next step in this platonic relationship of ours. I wanted to feel all of him, to see what hid underneath those fine clothes and make him feel what I felt for him. I wanted–_

"Althea," someone said, waking me up from my dream. I opened my eyes and met a pair of familiar dark brown eyes that I immediately recognized as Elijah's. "Sit still. I will remove the chains."

He swiftly pulled them off and picked me up in his arms since I was still too weakened by the vervain to move. I knew that I had been trapped for three days, because Klaus had come to me every day and told me about what had happened. He'd also fed me blood, so it wasn't like when my brothers held me captive.

"Where's Klaus?" I asked weakly.

"Being distracted by your brother at the Grill," Elijah answered as he carried me out of the house. I saw unconscious human and vampire guards on the floor as we passed them and figured that Elijah was behind their state. "I apologize for not coming sooner, but Klaus fooled us into looking for you elsewhere than here."

"It's ok… I'm fine."

Elijah looked at me with a concerned look, but said nothing and merely placed me in the back of his car. My lapis lazuli necklace was still where Klaus had placed it in case I did get out, but it didn't matter right now because it was dark outside.

"I know you came for me three days ago. I heard you arguing with him." I said.

He tightened his grip on the steering wheel, but remained calm despite the fact that he was obviously still pissed off about what Klaus had done to me.

"Don't worry about me and Klaus. I love you and I'm going to do whatever it takes to keep you safe. You have my word on that." Elijah said.

I could sense that it had been a couple of stressful days for Elijah and I pitied him for having to deal with so many family problems. Now that his father was permanently dead he was the oldest vampire alive and the oldest in his messed up family as well.

Like me.

None of us said anything during the rest of the way home, but after I'd taken a shower and gotten some new clothes on I was more or less jumped on by Elena, who'd heard about my return. I was happy to see the doppelganger still alive and well, because I'd seen how my brothers both looked at her and knew that they both cared about her.

"I didn't miss anything while I was gone, right?" I asked.

"_Only all the fun stuff, sweetie_," Finn answered teasingly as he walked up to me. "Good to see you back. My brother wouldn't stop complaining about how much he missed you."

I looked at Elijah and saw him rolling his eyes of his brother, making me giggle and kiss him on his cheek. I wanted to help Elijah annoy find, so I wrapped my arms around Elijah's neck and kissed him. Finn shook his head of us and went in to the living room to get himself a drink.

"Don't look so serious all of the time, Eli. It doesn't suit you." I teased.

"Well, someone has to be the serious one. Besides, didn't you say in 186…9 that you liked serious men?" Elijah asked.

Whoops! I did say that, but if I remembered correctly, then I was a little drunk that day. "You should still lighten up. We need to relax and just have fun or else I'm going to die of boredom."

"_Just as long as you two lovebirds keep your clothes on, then I'm all for fun!_" Finn yelled from the living room.

"You are not invited, Finn!" Elijah yelled back.

Finn poked his head out of the room with a glass of Scotch in his hand. "Excuse me? But we were having such a blast and bonding when your girlfriend disappeared!"

I raised an eyebrow. "The two of you actually had fun together? Urgh, why does all the good stuff always have to happen when I'm not there?"

Elijah opened his mouth to say something, but his gaze suddenly moved to someone behind me, so I turned around and smiled when I saw my brothers. I near enough jumped on them and ended up tackling them both to the floor, but they didn't mind it. They were just happy to see me and I was more than happy to see them too.

"Allie, mind getting up? It's not so pleasant to lie on the floor." Damon said grumpily.

"Nope! You're both staying here with me, until I've squeezed all the life out of you." I said.

Damon roll his eyes, but for the first time in what felt like years Stefan actually chuckled and hugged me tightly like he used to do before he turned ripperish. We eventually got up, though, and I saw a look on Elijah's face that made me wonder if he missed having fun with his brothers the way I had fun with mine.

"Now that we've had our reunion, then I'd like to spend some time alone with Elijah if you all don't mind." I said.

"You're not going to screw each other again, are you? I haven't erased the last mental image you gave me." Damon said.

I rolled my eyes, while Elijah shifted uncomfortably where he stood. "No… Elijah and I are having a nice dinner alone together, so shoo!"

"But it's my house too!"

"Yeah, but I was born first and I've been Klaus' prisoner for three days, so…"

"Nuh-uh! If he's staying, then I'm staying too. We'll all have a nice family dinner. It'll be fun and you can invite Elijah along as well. He has already been to one of my dinner parties, right Elijah?"

I saw a look of annoyance in Elijah's eyes and wondered what exactly happened at the dinner party he went to. But I shook my head, took Elijah's hand and left the house with him. If we couldn't have the house to ourselves, then we were going somewhere else like… a nice restaurant!

"You're awfully happy tonight… what owes the good mood? Alcohol?" Elijah asked teasingly.

"I'm not drunk, you fool! I just… during the time I spent locked up in Klaus' home, I realized that I don't want a life where I spent every minute worrying about when Klaus is going to strike again. I want to enjoy life like I used to do and I want to enjoy it with you. So until he makes a move I'll focus on spending as much time as possible with you and my brothers." I answered.

Elijah pondered over that for a few minutes. "I suppose you're right… We shouldn't let him take over our life completely."

I smiled. "Exactly. Now what are you in the mood for? French?"

He shook his head. "I have an idea of where we can go, but I need you to close your eyes when we get inside the car."

"Ohh, a surprise! I can't wait to see where you're taking me!"

He chuckled, but opened the car door for me and as soon as we begun driving I closed my eyes, waiting patiently for us to get to the restaurant Elijah had in mind. I hoped it was a restaurant that served something bloody, because I was a little hungry even though I fed only yesterday. I was going to eat the bloodiest meat they had and enjoy every bloody bit of it.

When Elijah finally stopped driving and let me open my eyes I saw that we were parked outside a small, but beautiful and sweet looking Italian restaurant.

"Ah, my little Elijah is turning into a romantic!" I teased.

Elijah frowned. "Little? You sure you're not drunk?" he teased.

I shook my head of him and dragged him inside, letting him play a gentleman and pull out the chair for me. We ordered the most expensive food they had and a nice bottle of red wine. It was ages since I'd last gone to a restaurant and had a fine dinner with a handsome man, so of course I was only grateful about being here.

"This is fun! Later we can go for a stroll or something." I said.

"_Or something _sounds good," Elijah said and kissed my hand. "I'm glad you made me go out. I need a break from everything that's going on and I swear, if I have to spend one more minute with Finn, then…"

I laughed and wanted to hug the man. He really did have a hard time when it came to his brothers and particularly two of them.

"What about Kol? The two of you should hang out sometime…"

Elijah smiled. "Yes, I should. And I will as soon as Klaus has been stopped."

I groaned. "The next time you mention the word 'hybrid' or 'Klaus' I'm leaving, ok?"

He sighed, but nodded understandingly and didn't mention any of the two things as we enjoyed our Italian dinner. For once we had a nice and normal dinner where no unwanted persons appeared and nothing happened at home, so we were able to relax and have fun.

After our romantic dinner we went on a stroll and enjoyed the evening like a normal couple. It felt nice with a change, but a very annoying part of me still thought about Klaus and especially about the talk I'd had with him last night.

"_Tomorrow Elijah will most likely find out where you are, so I'm taking your necklace with me in case I need to find you." Klaus said_

"_You sound like you're planning something… are you planning something, Nik?"_

_He smirked and leaned down to give me a soft kiss on my forehead. "I am, but I won't tell you when. Until then I suggest you use your time with Elijah and your brothers wisely, because by the end of this month things may be changing drastically – especially for you."_

_It felt more like an order than a suggestion, but I knew that he was serious, so I wasn't going to disobey him._

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><em>


	21. Drunk On Love

**A/N: Hii, thanks for the lovely reviews and here's your update! :D**

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 20:

"Elijah! That tickles!" I exclaimed as he moved his lips down my bare back.

"Oh, is that so? Well, perhaps I better continue then…" he said and kissed me gently on my back again, making me giggle of the ticklish feeling.

"Please! Stop! I… I can't take it!" I laughed.

Elijah finally stopped and I turned around, pulling the covers up over my bare chest. My gaze immediately fell on his bare and muscular chest, so he placed a finger under my chin and made me look into his eyes.

"You need a haircut, you know. Your hair is getting too long." I said, ruffling it.

He took a look at his reflection in the mirror and frowned. "You're right. Why don't you cut it? You did it so well the last time."

I smiled brightly and jumped out of bed, quickly putting my underwear on and pulling him with me out to the bathroom. I loved cutting Elijah's hair and I already had a lot of ideas of what to do with it, but I was guessing that Elijah probably didn't want a Mohawk.

Again.

"You really must trust me if you're ready to let me loose on your hair again." I said teasingly.

"Of course and although I wasn't too fond of the Mohawk, then I liked what you did with my hair the time after that." Elijah said.

I smiled and gave him a kiss on his cheek. "You're so sweet! Now, sit down and sit still."

Elijah sat down on the edge of the bathtub, while I quickly got my hands on a pair of scissors and a comb. I started out combing it back and tried deciding which idea to go with. I eventually chose to cut it the way I did after the disaster with the Mohawk and made it short, but modern and sexy.

"There! All done and looking rather good if I must say so!" I said, smiling brightly.

Elijah shook his head to get the hair I cut off out of his hair and once it was clean he ran his fingers through it to smooth it back and took a look in the mirror.

"I'm impressed," Elijah said, looking pleased of his new hairstyle. "You want me to cut your hair as well?"

My eyes widened in horror. "No, thank you! No one touches my hair besides me. Besides, I like it the way it is."

He chuckled and leaned down to kiss me then pulled me back in to my bedroom. He sat down onto the bed and I crawled up on his lap, about to kiss him when there was suddenly a knock on the door. I groaned and ignored the knocking, wanting to ruffle Elijah's hair and spend a little more time with him, but the knocking continued.

"What?" I snapped.

"_Don't snap at me!_" Damon said grumpily. "_I need to talk to you, so get dressed and meet me downstairs if you can pull yourself away from that buzz-kill of an Original._"

Elijah rolled his eyes and looked annoyed about being interrupted. He was starting to get used to having a girlfriend, but I enjoyed being with him as well.

"We could do it one last time. Damon may have to wait, but–"

Elijah shook his head. "Go and talk with him. I don't want to keep you trapped in your bedroom all day like I did last night."

I wrinkled my nose, but gave him one last kiss and then dressed. I went downstairs to find Damon waiting patiently with good ol' Alaric Saltzman.

"Buddy!" I said, grinning when I saw Ric. "Long-time no see!"

Damon shook his head of me and Alaric smiled awkwardly, clearly not expecting me to be in such a good mood, but he could thank Elijah for that.

"You see what I said? It's like she's drunk 24/7!" Damon said, making me roll my eyes of him.

"If you mean 'drunk on love' then yes I am drunk 24/7," I said. "But what is it that's so important that I can't enjoy my morning with my boyfriend?"

"A guy was found staked some days ago while you were locked up and I need your help to figure out who did it – especially since the guy wasn't even a vampire."

"Oh… well, that's a good enough reason to get me out. Maybe Elijah can help too."

Damon groaned. "Can't you go anywhere without him?"

"Fine! But I'm going to talk about him during the entire thing."

My brother looked like he regretted asking me to help him, but he didn't say anything. He just smiled and walked out to his car. Alaric and I followed him and we drove to the Lockwood Mansion where they were holding a council meeting.

Since Damon was the head of the council and I was his sister, then he managed to get me in the council and I listened as they talked about any recent vampire attacks.

I noticed that one of the men was eying my cleavage a little too much and I was sure that if Elijah had seen it then he would have compelled the man to jump off a bridge. After the meeting that same man went over to me and flashed a charming smile that made me want to roll my eyes.

"I didn't know that Damon Salvatore had an older sister…" he said flirtatiously.

"Well, he does. Who are you again?" I asked.

"Christian Harvest. I'm a member of this council and since you're new and all, then I was wondering if you needed an introduction to what we do here. Perhaps we could grab a cup of coffee now where at it too?" he answered.

"_Sorry, dude, but my sister is taken,_" Damon said, stepping forwards. The man scowled at him, but he didn't look like he wanted to give up just yet. "Don't you have anything else to do, Christian?"

"Not really, no. But an honor to help your sister settling down in the council and I will only be happy to answer any questions she might have."

I suppressed a groan and looked at Damon, who looked like he wanted to break the guy's neck. "It's very kind of you, but I can't. And if I have any questions, then I'm sure Damon can answer them."

Christian finally gave up, but I couldn't help but wonder if there was another reason for why he tried to make a move on me.

"What a douchebag! It's times like these where I enjoy having Elijah as my almost-brother-in-law." Damon said.

I shook my head of him. "Let's just find out who killed that guy, yes? Where did you say they found him?" I said.

"In the woods. I first thought that it was Dr. Meredith Fell – Alaric's new girlfriend – but the only thing she was guilty of doing is using vampire blood to heal her patients."

"Hm… maybe someone thought that he was a vampire and killed him by accident?"

"Maybe. But it's not very likely. Whoever killed this dude put a lot of thought into this. The stake that was used was neatly cut. This person definitely knows about killing vampires and has probably done it before."

"Hm… We could try going back to the woods?"

"And what? The crime scene has been processed and any evidence about it is at the police station."

I rolled my eyes. "Do you have to be so negative all the time? We might actually find something the others missed, like… the killer's blood?"

Damon groaned. "Okay, then let's go and take another look."

We left the mansion again and while Alaric went to talk with his new girlfriend, then we went to the woods where the corpse was found. I looked curiously around in the area and tried picking up on any scents that might still be here.

"Found anything yet, Lassie?" Damon asked teasingly.

"No, Fido! But be patient. It is a while since the crime was committed here after all." I answered.

Damon grinned and walked towards a nearby tree, but when I went to take a look at the roots of another tree I was suddenly tackled by someone so quickly that I didn't have time to fight back. I soon found out that it was just Finn and shook my head of him.

"What the hell is the matter with you? You scared the crap out of me!" I hissed.

Finn laughed and helped me up from the ground, a little too eager to brush the dirt off my butt. "Oi! Stop that, you perv! Now tell me why you're here."

"I came to tell you that Elijah just went to talk with Klaus. Alone." Finn said, turning serious.

My eyes widened. "What? Why would he… oh no! When did he leave?"

"An hour ago. I wasn't supposed to tell you anything, but we're buddies and it wouldn't be fair of me to keep any secrets from you." He smirked, making me shake my head.

I sighed heavily and looked to Damon. "See! This is why I wanted to come with us! Now he's probably lying neutralized in a coffin or something worse!"

"Relax, Althea. I'll get him and you go home with Finn. I don't want to give Klaus another opportunity to use you for his personal gain."

I wanted to protest, but Damon left before I could say a word and I was left behind with Finn, who seemed surprisingly calm about this.

"Aren't you supposed to be worried for your brother? What if Klaus neutralize him?" I asked.

"Then we'll get him back. But even though Klaus is a hybrid, then Elijah won't let himself get fooled again. He is the only one of us who knows Klaus the best." Finn answered.

I hoped he was right about that, because the thought of Klaus neutralizing him again scared me. I reluctantly went back to the boarding house with Finn and as we arrived we ran into a bewildered-looking Kol, who was just about to head out.

"What's up with you?" I asked confusedly.

"Me? Oh nothing," he answered, but it sounded like a lie. "I'm heading out for a drink. Oh, and remember to stay with Finn."

He left before I could ask why and when I looked questioningly at Finn he just shrugged and walked inside.

"Are you guys planning something behind my back?" I asked suspiciously.

"Now that is just absurd! Have we ever hid anything from you, Althea?" Finn answered.

I raised an eyebrow. Oh, they were definitely up to something and I wanted to know what it was.

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	22. Priceless

**A/N: Hii, thanks for the lovely reviews and let's see if we can make it to 100 because then this story will be the first of mine to get that many reviews ;)**

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 21:

Stefan was the first who came home and when he saw how I sat scowling at him on the couch, he instinctively backed and went to leave again. He knew that running away when I was pissed off was a good idea, because once I got my hands on him he was dead–well, deader.

"Oh, no! Don't you dare running away from me!" I yelled, running after him.

Unfortunately, Stefan was gone when I reached the front door, but another very unlucky person came home and he didn't have time to run away when he saw me scowling at him.

I jumped on Damon like a lion on its prey and prepared myself to spit on him like I usually threatened to do back when we were human, making him coil under me and try getting away.

"NO! Don't do it!" he yelled.

"Too late, bro! What the hell are you and Elijah up to? Tell me or I give you a wet willy instead!" I snarled.

Damon made a face and somehow managed to throw me off him before I could stick my wet finger in his ear. I growled and ran after him, making Elena – who'd just arrived – look at us and shake her head. I ignored her presence and continued trying to tackle Damon before he could flee as well.

"You crazy bitch! Stop chasing me!" Damon snarled, still running as fast as he could.

"Not until you tell me what they're up to! I want to know _now_!"

I continued chasing him, until I spotted Elijah walking towards the house, looking deep in thought about something. I stopped running abruptly and pointed accusingly at him.

"YOU! Run and I will slap you silly!" I exclaimed, making him stop walking abruptly and look at me with wide eyes.

Elijah groaned, but stayed still and waited as I approached him and despite being an Original, then it actually looked like he was scared of me for a moment.

"Where the hell have you been, why did you go to Klaus _alone_ without telling me and what on earth were you thinking?" I near enough screamed at him.

"Althea, I–"

"Don't you 'Althea' me! Do you know how worried I've been for you? Huh? And what's up with all the secrecy? Don't you trust me?"

He sighed. "No, I don't. I know that Klaus will compel you into telling what we're up to and that's why I made Damon and my brothers distract you."

It annoyed me that he didn't trust me around Klaus, but I was too tired to argue with him and just walked back inside without saying a word, feeling hurt, pissed off and mentally exhausted.

This whole ordeal was really starting to get to me and if I wasn't careful then I might end up doing something stupid like-like falling in love with Klaus again.

"Thea…" Elijah said as he suddenly stood before me, blocking my path. He cupped my face in his hands, but I didn't want to look into his eyes. "I'm sorry. I want to tell you everything, but right now you're my number one priority and if telling you about our plan will put you in danger, then I won't tell you anything. It's best if you know as little as possible."

"But I can't just sit and do nothing while you guys do everything. I'm not made of porcelain, Elijah." I said, finally meeting his eyes.

"I know, but you're priceless to me and I can't afford loosing you to Klaus."

I couldn't stop myself from smiling weakly. He always knew what to say to make a woman go weak in her knees and that was what I loved mostly about him.

"Damn, you're annoying. You and your annoying British accent need to stop charming me."

Elijah chuckled and pulled me into his embrace, kissing me softly on my forehead. I held on to him for a few minutes and took in the warmth and scent of his body, feeling so safe and secure in his arms. I did miss feeling Klaus' arms around me, but I couldn't betray my brothers… or could I?

"I could really need a massage right now, you know…" I said.

Elijah looked at me and smiled. "Fine, I will do it." he said.

I smiled brightly. "Yay! Now we're at it, then–"

"Don't push it, Althea."

I pouted, but he dragged me back inside and we went upstairs to my bedroom, allowing Stefan and Damon to return home without fearing for their lives. I was given the wonderful backrub, so I didn't complain or yelled anymore today.

It was nice to have Elijah back and in one piece, but of course it was hard not to think about what those guys were planning to do to Klaus.

"Elijah, you remember that night when we first slept together?" I asked as he massaged my feet.

The more than 1000 years old Original looked up at me and I saw a smile form on his lips. Of course he remembered even though we were both pretty drunk that night and he probably didn't mean for it to happen.

"I remember that we both woke up with a terrible hangover…" he said and shook his head lightly of the memory.

"If you had done that while I was still human and living with my family, then my father would probably have shot you in the ass."

Elijah stopped massaging my foot and raised an eyebrow. "And you're telling me this… why?"

I didn't know why I brought it up, but I had wondered how my life would have been if Elijah had been the one, who came and asked for my hand in marriage. I could definitely see myself marrying Elijah, but I wasn't so sure if he even wanted to get married and then with me.

"I know this must sound weird, but… where do you see yourself in 10 years?" I asked, sitting up.

"In 10 years?" He shrugged and looked a little puzzled over why I would ask that. "I do not know to be honest. I have been so focused on killing Klaus that I never gave it any thought."

I sighed heavily and began picking absently on the hem of the covers. Elijah must have noticed the disappointment in my face, because he cupped my face in his hands and made me look up at him.

"I don't want to give you any false hope, but if we manage to kill Klaus and stop his hybrids, then remember this: I intend on marrying you the minute he is dead."

My eyes widened. "You're asking me to marry you?"

Elijah kissed my hands softly. "I am. Do you want to marry me, Althea?"

Last time someone asked me to marry him I had been forced to say yes, but now… now I was free to what I really wanted to say.

"Yes, of course!" I said and more or less jumped on him to give him a kiss. We kissed passionately, but in the middle of everything I suddenly remembered something and pulled away. "But you don't have a last name… other than Smith, but that's not even your real last name."

Elijah chuckled. "You may keep your own last name if you don't want to be called Mrs. Original or Mrs. Smith." he said.

Althea Smith, Althea Original or Althea Salvatore?

As much as I wanted to have his last name, then it didn't have such a good ring to it.

"Sorry, Eli, but I'm keeping my own last name. But you have talked with Damon or Stefan about this, right? I mean if you haven't then I'm sure they'll get a little pissed off since I am their sister."

Elijah grinned. "I will talk with them some other time."

I pulled him in for another kiss and wanted to celebrate our engagement, but once again my dear brother wanted to ruin my fun.

"_I don't care about if you two bunnies are getting it on or not, but I have a few things I need to discuss with Elijah about. Very secret stuff._" Damon said.

I groaned against Elijah's lips and reluctantly pulled away. "Just go. I need a drink anyway."

"Be careful. I don't want Klaus to have any opportunities to take you away from me again."

"Don't worry, Elijah. I've learned my lesson – besides, I'm engaged now! I can't imagine that I would find this kind of happiness elsewhere."

To be honest, then I had no idea of whether or not Klaus wanted to get married, but he didn't seem like the type to do so just like with Damon…

God, I really needed to stop thinking about Klaus!

"Love you." I said as I stepped out of the bed.

"Love you more." Elijah said, pulling me back in for one last kiss.

I reluctantly dressed and left the house, while the others talked about their planes, and went to the Mystic Grill where I hoped to see a familiar face.

It had been a while since I'd talked with Caroline or Elena, but since Elena was currently making plans with the others, then I had to find my favorite blonde-haired vampire.

I didn't find Caroline anywhere at the Grill, but I did spot a certain dark blonde-haired man, who sat at the bar and enjoyed his glass of Bourbon. I didn't go to him, but discretely walked over to a table far away from him where I could relax without being bothered.

Or so I hoped.

"_A gift from a Klaus at the bar._" the waitress suddenly said, handing me a glass of Bourbon along with the beer I'd ordered.

I frowned and looked towards Klaus, who was still sitting with his back towards me and instinctively groaned.

"Well, send it back and tell him I don't want a drink from him." I said.

The waitress looked a little frightened for some reason. "He said you might say that and told me to tell you that if you don't accept it and sit with him, then he'll kill me."

I realized that she was under his compulsion and glared at him even though he still wasn't looking in my direction. Why couldn't he let me have a calm and quiet night out without bothering me?

"Fine." I took the glass and my beer and walked up to the bar, taking a seat next to Klaus, who of course was smirking when I came.

"You're an ass, you know that, right? Can't I have a normal night without having to look at your face?" I grumbled.

He chuckled and said: "Now where's the fun in that? Besides, I have to talk with you about something very important…"

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	23. Dinner Party

**A/N: Hii, firstly - SPOILER ALERT! If you have not watched Bringing Out The Dead, then I suggest you watch first before reading this :)**

**Thanks for the lovely reviews! ;D**

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 22:

"I'm hosting a little… ah,_ dinner party_ tonight and I would very much like if you came." Klaus said as I finished my third bottle of beer.

"What's the catch?" I asked suspiciously.

So far Klaus and I had not talked about anything in particular, but now that he was suddenly inviting me to this party I sensed that he was setting his plan into motion.

"There's no catch. I merely want to enjoy a nice dinner in my finished home with my favorite brother and the lovely Salvatore siblings."

I raised an eyebrow. "My brothers are invited as well? Is this what you've all been planning behind my back? That you have a freakin' dinner party!"

I didn't know whether to feel incredibly annoyed or upset about it.

Klaus chuckled of my frustration and kissed my hand gently, making me miss the feeling of his touch. "I trust you will be there, yes?"

I nodded. I didn't want to miss out on a chance to get my revenge on my brothers and Elijah after hiding something as stupid as this from me.

"Good. Be there at eight. I can't wait to spend some time with my favorite Salvatore again."

I blushed and looked away as Klaus left the Grill, leaving me alone at the bar. God, I really hated how that man was able to make me miss him so much.

I sometimes felt like we never really got the chance to see if we were perfect for each other and we never would.

I went back home and prepared myself to go, but I didn't go to the mansion with Damon and Stefan, because I knew that they didn't want me to come.

So about ten minutes after they'd left, I left as well and was let inside by a blonde-haired woman with big breasts.

Typical, Klaus to have women like her around!

I shook my head of it and went in to the dining room to find the two pair of brothers already seated at the dinner table. Elijah's eyes widened a little when he saw me here, while Klaus smiled and my own brothers looked annoyed.

"Thank you for inviting me, Klaus," I said in an irritated tone to show them that I was annoyed. I walked up to the vacant seat next to Stefan and was glared at by Damon. "What are we having?"

"You'll see," Klaus said and ordered the compelled women to come with the food. "And thank you for coming, Althea. I heard that you and my brother are engaged now. What a lovely surprise."

I could hear that Klaus was lying about the last part, but I didn't have time to focus on him or his feelings for me right now. Stefan and Damon's eyes widened a little when they heard this and immediately looked at Elijah, because he hadn't mentioned a word about it.

"Yes… lovely," I said and took a sip of my wine glass. "What else have you talked about?"

"Well, Klaus and Elijah also told us that they both fell in love with the Original doppelgänger Tatia many years ago." Damon said, obviously looking to poke at Klaus.

I didn't know that Klaus and Elijah had once been in love with the same woman and then someone, who looked exactly like Elena and Katherine, but now that I did I couldn't stop myself from wondering if them being in love with me was history repeating.

"I see… Who won her heart then?" I asked, keeping myself straight-faced.

Elijah didn't look so comfortable about talking about this when I was here, but he kept himself calm and straight-faced like me.

"Neither of us. She could not choose between us, but then our mother decided to use her blood to turn us into vampires and we… never heard from her again." Elijah answered.

Hmm… that answer was a little too vague for my liking, but I didn't ask any more questions and just began eating. The awkward and tense silence between us was almost excruciating and every time I looked up I would find either Klaus or Elijah looking at me with wondering eyes.

"So… what is the real reason to why we are here? I'm not stupid and I sure as hell don't believe the whole I-just-want-to-dine-with-my-enemies explanation." I said, breaking the awkward silence.

"If you must know, then we are here to make a new deal with your brother about keeping my siblings and the last coffin from me. I want it if heads don't have to start rolling." Klaus answered casually, taking a swig of his wine mixed with blood.

"Aha… well, that is just… brilliant. But I think I speak on my brothers' behalf when I say that we're not giving you your coffin back. What's in it anyway? Or should I ask _who_?"

Klaus' jaw tensed up. I had stuck a nerve and whoever was in the coffin then the person meant a lot to him. Could it be Tatia? If so, then I was going to get some competition if she decided that she wanted Elijah back, but it would also pain me to see her going for Klaus.

"Perhaps it is time for us to start discussing the terms for our new deal, yes?" Klaus asked, avoiding my question.

"Fine. You take your coffins and leave town. It's as simple as that." Damon answered, smirking smugly. "Oh, and we keep Elena here."

Klaus raised an eyebrow. "So you can fight over her and get her killed? No, thank you. I have little trust in brothers who are in love with the same girl. One of you are bound to make a mistake and this mistake can cost me my hybrids."

Damon and Stefan both looked annoyed about that comment and especially Damon found it agitating, so he decided to leave the house and get some fresh air, dragging me along with him. He first stopped walking when we stood at least 30 feet away from the house as if he was afraid that Klaus would overhear something.

"Firstly, how could you just say yes to marry Elijah when we don't even know whose side he's on right now?" he asked.

I rolled my eyes. "Of course Elijah is on our side. Why wouldn't he be? And as for why I said yes, then you already know why. I love him." I answered.

Damon groaned. "He's an Original, who by the way didn't even ask us–"

"For permission? Damon, I may be old fashion when it comes to marriage, but I'm not _that_ old fashion. I only want Elijah to tell you about his plans and he said he would."

"Fine, do what you want, but at least answer me why you said yes to come here. I thought we told you to stay out of this matter."

"Seriously, Damon? Have I ever been happy about secrets? No! I said yes and I'm here now, so it's too late for you to send me home."

"Don't come crying to me when you get hurt! I'm just trying to look out for you. We all are!"

"Yeah, well it ever crossed your mind that perhaps I don't want to be protected? That I can make my own choices? You aren't exactly leaving me much freedom to do anything – just like our father!"

I didn't know how I ended up arguing with my own brother, but I just couldn't handle being left out like this anymore. I didn't care if they thought this was too dangerous for me.

Hell, I was older than them, so they were the ones who needed _my_ protection!

"Is this about us banning you from seeing Klaus?" Damon suddenly asked, making me freeze up.

"Of course not! I–"

Damon snorted. "I can't believe this! My sister is still in love with that psycho! Do you know how stupid that is? Klaus is the enemy, Althea! Get it in your head! Go be happy with Elijah and just forget about that freak or I swear I will–"

"Fuck you, Damon! Fuck you and Stefan! I'm sick and tired of you two controlling my life and saying who I can love and can't love! What if I told you and Stefan that you weren't allowed to love Elena, because she's a doppelgänger or because she's the reason why we're all in danger? Huh? You know what? Forget it. I'm leaving and I hope you two have fun with your stupid war!"

I left the place and ran as fast as I could back to the boarding house, feeling tears brimming in my eyes. I hated this life and I hated that I felt this way about someone I was supposed to help my brothers take down.

I had reached my boiling point and felt more lost than I had ever been in my entire life.

I ended up sitting on the couch and crying my heart out, feeling so frustrated and angry at myself for yelling at my own brother. I didn't mean to take it all out on Damon, because of course I knew that he just wanted to protect me from making a mistake.

But what if I was supposed to make this mistake?

What if my feelings for Klaus were worth fighting for?

And what about Elijah? I still loved him so much…

"_Althea?_" the man in question said.

I quickly wiped away the smeared mascara on my eyes as good as I could and turned around to find Elijah standing alone in the living room, looking worried and shocked about something.

Had he overheard my conversation with Damon?

"My mother is alive…" he said almost hoarsely, making me frowning. "For a thousand years I thought she was dead, but… she's alive."

I sighed and ran up to him, embracing him tightly and trying to forget the moment of doubt I'd had about marrying him. I didn't want him to think that I was going to leave him for his brother after everything he'd been through in his messed up family.

"Your mother was in the coffin then?" I asked, looking into his dark eyes.

He nodded and smiled weakly. "She said that she forgave Klaus and wants to make us a family again… I do not understand how she can be so… forgiving after everything _he_ has done." he said.

I could.

Klaus might be the result of her cheating on her husband, but he was still her son and she probably still loved him as much as before.

"Why are you crying? I heard that you and Damon had an argument and that you stormed off…"

I sighed heavily, feeling torn between wanting to tell the truth and lying, so he wouldn't hate me. "We just disagreed about some things, but it's nothing you should worry about. Focus on your own siblings, okay?"

Elijah sighed too and pulled me in for a tight hug, just holding me for a few minutes and making the sadness inside me slowly disappear without knowing it…

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	24. Unfinished Business

**A/N: Hii, thanks for the lovely reviews! :D**

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 23:

It hadn't been easy to sneak out, but somehow I succeeded and without meeting Damon or Stefan on my way out. I'd gone to the woods – at the place where we'd made love – and found claw marks on a tree that I knew belonged to him.

"_You came,_" he said and the sound of his voice made me think back on the argument I'd had with Damon a few hours ago. I turned to Klaus and saw a weak smile on his lips. "You're doing the right thing, Althea. You don't have to feel guilty about anything you're doing."

I said nothing and let him embrace me, enjoying the feeling of his arms around me and his familiar scent that I had truly missed. I rested my head on his shoulder and thought back on the conversation I'd had with Elijah after he came home…

"_You still love him, don't you?" he asked as we lay in my bed close to each other._

_I frowned and looked at him, fearing that he was referring to Klaus. "Who?" I still said._

"_Niklaus. My brother. Do you still love him, Althea? Be honest." _

_I sighed and as much as I wanted to ignore the fact, then it was true. I never stopped loving him and sometimes I felt like I was only with Elijah because it was 'the right thing to do'. _

"_I'm sorry, Elijah. I don't want to, but–"_

"_But you just do."_

_I nodded and wanted to compel myself into forgetting about Klaus. Feeling these feelings for him was causing me nothing but trouble._

"_I still love you, I do, but… I have unfinished business with Klaus that I need to finish – if I'm even supposed to finish them, that is."_

"_It's so… ironic. You may not look like Tatia, but sometimes your words remind me of her. I do love you too, so if you need to do this then I will wait for you, for I will never let you go this easily._"

Klaus pulled back and kissed me tenderly; making my knees turning weak and my heart beat faster. I really had missed him and I wanted to let him take me right here. He pulled me closer to him and growled a little between kisses.

"My life is complete now…" he said quietly, cupping my face with his hands. He smiled in a way that I had never seen before. It was a look of contentment and it replaced that feral look he usually had in his eyes. "Come. I want to show you something."

I followed him without saying a word and we went back to his home where I could hear Rebekah telling her mother about all the things she'd missed the last 1000 years, while Kol and Finn were moving their things in to their new bedrooms. Klaus didn't stop to greet any of them, but continued walking towards a huge ballroom in the house that was beautifully decorated.

"The party I'm throwing tomorrow will be the first of many parties will we have here." Klaus said.

"My birthday is coming up soon…" I murmured, still in awe of how beautiful the ballroom was. I took a few steps away from Klaus and looked at all the detailed carvings in the pillars and at the almost ancient looking paintings on the walls. "Am I invited to the ball?"

Klaus walked up to me and wrapped his arms around me. "Of course, love. You are the guest of honor and that means a lot in the Mikaelson family."

I frowned and raised an eyebrow. "Your last name is Mikaelson? Seriously?"

He chuckled and turned me around so I faced him. "It's not everyone who was born with an ordinary last name… what does Salvatore even mean?"

I scoffed. "Wow, and I thought I was stupid. It means 'Savior', you dumbass. And it's way cooler than 'Mikaelson'."

He rolled his eyes and went to kiss me, but someone cleared their throat loudly, making Klaus growl and turn around. His sister stood only a few feet away and she didn't look particularly happy to see me.

"And who do we have here?" she asked, eying me suspiciously.

"Ah, Bekah! This is Althea Salvatore – Stefan and Damon's sister." Klaus said casually.

Rebekah raised an eyebrow. "I didn't know Stefan had a sister, but I'm not surprised to find you shagging her. Is this your way of retaliating for what he did?"

I wrinkled my nose and wanted to slap her, but I mentally reminded myself that she wasn't just Klaus' annoying sister, but another Original.

"Don't you have something better to do? Like teaching our mother how the internet works?"

"Oh, I've already done that. She's a quick learner, but she told me to keep an eye on you and Elijah since you're both fighting over the same girl again. Have you told Althea about Tatia?"

Klaus knew what Rebekah was doing. She was pissed off at him and wanted to ruin his life by ruining our relationship, but Klaus wasn't going to let her do that. He growled of her and pushed her out of the ballroom, while I stayed and admired the place.

"_So you are the woman I hear my sons have been fighting over this time_…" another voice said.

I turned and felt my cheeks turn rosy when I saw that it was no other than Klaus' mother. I didn't need a picture to know who she was, because I could see the resemblance very clearly.

"Yes, I'm… Althea Salvatore," I said, trying not to panic. "You must be Esther."

She might be Elijah's mother too, but from what I'd gathered, then she didn't like when her sons fought over a girl and I was sure that she didn't want her sons to fight over me.

"You may act and look different from Tatia, but do remember that I will not let anyone drive my family apart again. Elijah and Klaus are brothers and should not be fighting over the same woman."

"I agree and I understand your concern, but I… can't control my feelings. I genuinely love both of your sons and want the best for them."

She scoffed. "If you wanted the best for them, then you will leave both of them and continue your life with your brothers."

"And just how am I supposed to do that when we both live in this town? I'm not moving away because of you and even if I left them, then that wouldn't stop_ them_ from coming to me."

The look in Esther's eyes turned dark, but when she opened her mouth to speak, she was interrupted by the sound of footsteps.

Klaus' footsteps.

I couldn't be more relieved to see Klaus and when he saw the look on my face, he seemed to understand what his mother had been trying to do.

"Perhaps we should go upstairs, yes?" he said.

I nodded, feeling more than happy to leave the room with him and get as far away from Esther as possible. She might be a good mother, but she was a terrible mother-in-law and a very scary one too. I was grateful that I hadn't met Klaus' stepfather then. That would've been very… awkward.

"I'm sorry, but I don't like your mother," I said as soon as we were inside his bedroom. "She makes it sound like I want to make you and Elijah fight."

Klaus groaned. "She hasn't changed one bit, but she is still my mother. I will talk with her, I promise, but for now you are free to hide up here with me." he said teasingly.

I giggled and pulled him down onto the bed with me. Klaus smirked and looked at me from head to toe, a look of wonder and adoration in his eyes.

"I love you, Althea." he said.

It sounded so different when it was him saying it, but when he said it I felt a warm sensation spread inside me.

"I love you too, Klaus." I said, meaning it with every bit of my heart.

I had waited for what felt like ages to say that and now that I was finally able to do it, I wanted to say it every day. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the feeling of him kissing and slowly undressing me. I let loose the wild side of me that I had kept caged up inside me for ages and just made love to him.

I didn't know what the time was when we were finally able to relax, but I could hear that we were all alone in the big mansion, which I was only thankful for since I didn't want to meet Esther anytime soon. She was one mean mother-in-law and even worse than William's mother.

"When's your birthday?" Klaus asked, drawing circles on my bare stomach.

I looked up at him and smiled, feeling like I actually belonged here in his arms.

Klaus wasn't perfect and he'd done a lot of things towards me and many others, but despite all that I still cared deeply about him.

Part of me understood where he was coming from and why he did the things he did, which of course made me unable to genuinely hate him.

"In three days," I answered. "I can't believe I'm turning 170… I feel old."

Klaus snorted. "Love; compared to me you're incredibly young. You will always be young and beautiful to me."

I blushed. "I still feel old – compared to Damon and Stefan that is. And of course all the humans in the world."

He sat up with me on his lap and an arm tightly secured around my waist. "Fine, you're old. Happy now?"

I pushed him back down, making him chuckle and stretch his arms out casually. He looked up at my bare body with that look of admiration again and reminded me of the time I first met him. I had been scared, yes, but a part of me had also admired him immensely.

"Why did you even save me that time my carriage crashed?" I asked wonderingly.

Klaus shrugged. "To be honest I wanted to play with you at first and maybe then kill you later, but…"

"Well, isn't that romantic? Thank God we can't have any children…"

He rolled his eyes and pulled me down, so we lay with our chests against each other. "But then I fell in love with you and that feisty spirit of yours and I wanted to give you the kind of freedom I never had. I never asked to become a vampire, Althea. I couldn't just say no like you could."

I knew why that was. I had heard the story about how their father Mikael spiked their wine with Tatia's enchanted blood sometime after brother Henrik died. Then Mikael had killed them and they'd turned into vampires – the very first vampires in the world.

"Thank you for saving me," I said. "And for giving me that choice. You changed my life in more than one way and I am forever grateful of that."

He smiled weakly and kissed me again, wrapping his arms tightly around me so I couldn't leave him again...

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	25. Speechless

**A/N: Hii, thanks for the awesome reviews, favs and alerts! ;D**

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 24:

"Did you just pinch my butt?" I grumbled.

"Of course not," Klaus said innocently. "I'm just trying to tie your laces."

I rolled my eyes and turned around, noticing that his eyes were fixated on my back. I made him meet my gaze and saw a grin form on his lips.

"I apologize, but it's hard not to look when you're wearing such fine lingerie…" He growled, making me blush immensely.

"I think it's about time I get that dress on before you go all Viking and rape me."

Klaus chuckled and pulled me in for a kiss, pushing me gently down onto his bed even though his fine suit would get wrinkled. I couldn't stop myself from giggling, but I enjoyed the fiery kisses and nearly let him remove the black laced corset I was wearing.

"We're going to be late to your ball…" I said in between the sweet kisses.

"So what? It's fashionable to be late." Klaus said teasingly.

I snorted and managed to roll him under me, pinning his arms above his head. "In this case it's not, but maybe after the party we can have a little fun."

Klaus smirked and pulled his hands out of my grip, picking me up and carrying me to the walk-in closet in his bedroom. He put me down and fetched my dress from me – a beautiful scarlet dress with a floral beading and ivory white fabric underneath.

After Klaus had helped me pull the dress on and tied the back, I began curling my dark hair and put on some old jewelries that I hadn't worn for decades.

"Save me the first dance, will you?" Klaus said, slapping my ass as I passed him.

"Oi! No touching! That's _my_ ass!" I grumbled.

"That's not true! Your ass became my property when I turned you."

I rolled my eyes. "I swear, ever since I decided to go back to you you've been extremely annoying…"

He just smiled and placed a kiss on my cheek, then offered me his arm like a gentleman. "Shall we go, love?"

I nodded and took his arm, letting him usher me downstairs to where the arriving guests were greeting Klaus' other siblings. I instinctively looked for my brothers and wondered if they were even going to show up after that big argument I'd had with Damon.

The last thing I wanted was them hating me too.

"They'll come," Klaus said, noticing my anxiousness. "My mother has invited Elena, so if she comes then they're coming too."

"They're still going to be mad at me. I can't make them understand why I love you. I don't even understand why I do that." I said.

Klaus raised an eyebrow and decided to cup my face with his hands. "Stop worrying, Althea."

"That's easy for you to say. Your siblings already hate you."

He rolled his eyes. "Fine, then keep worrying. But while you do that I'll find someone else to dance and have fun with."

"No! I'll stop worrying. Just-just get me a glass of champagne or something!"

Klaus laughed and gave me a kiss on my cheek before leaving to find some champagne. While I waited at the staircase I spotted Elijah talking with Kol about the ball and the second he spotted me he looked… speechless.

I felt my cheeks turn rosy and wanted to look away, but I liked when he looked at me like that and wished that I hadn't fallen so hard for both of them.

Kol noticed the longing looks between us and pushed his older brother towards me. Elijah awkwardly walked up to me and kissed my hand gently.

"You look beautiful tonight, Althea," he said. "I see you are wearing the earrings I helped you get."

I nodded and sighed weakly. "Elijah, I–"

"_I'm gone for two minutes and you're already trying to steal my date,_" Klaus said, returning with two glasses of champagne. I downed my drink a little quicker than I meant to, earning a weird look from both of them. "Having a good time, brother?"

"I was, until you showed up. Now excuse me, but I have other things to do." Elijah said coldly, leaving us behind.

"Thanks, Klaus. Now he's pissed off!" I grumbled.

"It's not my fault he's… well, it is, but he is the one who took you away from me first."

I groaned. "This isn't about who took me away! This about you being an ass towards your brother when you're supposed to forget about the past."

Klaus downed his own drink and left in frustration, leaving me alone once again. I sighed and looked around, hoping to find someone I knew, and saw my brothers enter the mansion with Elena.

I didn't feel like talking with any of them anyway and went in to another room before they noticed me. Of course I knew that I couldn't avoid them all night, but I was still going to try.

However, after Elijah had held his toast at the top of the staircase we were all supposed to move in to the ballroom and dance, so I was forced to be in the same room with them. Even though Klaus and I had had a small argument, then we still danced together.

"I'm sorry about what I said. I will try not to annoy him again," Klaus said as we danced. "But you need to remember that I'm still getting used to having heightened emotions."

"It's ok. I understand and let's just relax now and enjoy this evening." I said.

He nodded in agreement and kissed me just before we changed partners. The smile on my lips disappeared when I ended up with Damon.

"Hello, sister… Don't you look ravishing tonight!" he said mockingly.

"I wish I could say the same about you, but Father always told us not to lie to each other," I scoffed. "Why are you here? I was expecting you to sit at the Grill and drinking a glass of Bourbon."

"Ha-ha, very funny, but no I came here to talk some sense into you. You're making a huge mistake by choosing Klaus over us."

"I'm not choosing him over you. I'm choosing him over Elijah – something completely different that has nothing to do with that war you have going on with him!"

"Althea, this has everything to do with the war. You're sleeping with the enemy! This man turned your own brother into a ripper and took everything from him. How can you trust him when he has daggered his own siblings and killed his parents?"

"I can't and I don't, but I don't need to trust him to love him. I don't want to be a part of this war. I don't want to fight! All I want is a somewhat normal life with a man I love. Is that too much to ask for or do you want me to be alone and miserable like you and Stefan are?"

Damon didn't answer, but he had no time to do it either, because we changed partners again and this time I ended up dancing with Stefan.

Could this night get anymore awkward?

"You here to yell at me too?" I asked.

"As much as I want to, then no," Stefan answered much to my surprise. "I wish you hadn't left that night in 1862 and met Klaus, but I have made plenty of mistakes in my life too. I can't make you change your mind, so I'll just have to hope that Elijah can."

I sighed. "Can you please tell Damon that? I can't stand the thought of him hating me. If he's going to stay like that, then I might as well take my necklace off and stand in the sun."

"I promise I will talk with him, but I can't promise that he will change his mind. He is just as stubborn as us, but aren't all Salvatores like that?"

I smiled weakly and felt less like a bad sister, but then I returned to Klaus and was reminded of how this entire argument begun.

"I'm guessing you had a talk with Damon…" Klaus said.

"Is it that obvious?" I asked. "Why can't he just let me be happy for once?"

Klaus was silent at first and then pulled me a little closer to him. "Perhaps he's afraid of losing you. I would too if Rebekah started mingling with your brothers."

I groaned. "Lovely (!) I can't make anyone happy and when I try someone ends up hating me."

He sighed and gave me a gentle kiss. "I don't hate you nor have you failed in making me happy."

I smiled and ended the dance a little earlier than the others did to give him a kiss he definitely deserved. He could be sweet when he wanted to and made me feel almost carefree and happy.

We went back to the entrance again and stood by the stairs with the others, listening to Esther's brief toast. I didn't know why, but ever since that time we met and she warned me about being in love with her sons, I had sensed a certain… concern in her as if she dreaded I would do something.

What that thing was I didn't know, but I had a suspicion about her being up to something other than seeing her family being reunited.

"Come. There's something I want to show you." Klaus said as we had drunk the delicious champagne.

He took my hand in his and ushered me to a room in the back of the mansion where he stored several old paintings and drawings that looked centuries old.

Among the beautiful paintings was one of me from 1862 where I lay almost naked on the floor, my hair hanging loose around my head and the only thing covering my body was a piece of red satin.

"I knew you kept that one! You're such a perv!" I said teasingly.

"It was that or selling it to someone and you already know that I don't think sharing." Klaus said.

"What else did you keep, my pervy friend?"

Klaus chuckled and took out a drawing of me sitting in the carriage I crashed in. The curtains of the windows were tied up, so Klaus had been able to see me inside it.

"You drew that in the middle of the night?" I asked incredulously.

He shook his head. "It was two days before you left. I'd seen you as you were visiting someone you knew and… well, already then you somehow caught my attention." he answered.

I smiled and wrapped my arms around his neck, giving him a long passionate kiss before saying: "Thank you, Klaus. I… needed this."

**Thanks for reading and please review! ;D**


	26. Burned

**A/N: Hii, thanks for the lovely reviews and now that my winter break has started, then I'll try updating this story a little faster ;)**

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 25:

"Do you have a minute?" I asked, taking a seat next to Damon.

"No." Damon answered without even looking at me.

I sighed heavily and decided to buy a drink. I really didn't want to have this talk with Damon yet again, but I missed him and Stefan so much.

"Will it take that I break up with Klaus before you stop hating me this much?"

Damon finally turned his gaze to me, looking conflicted and sad. "You won't break up with Klaus for my sake. I've seen how you look at him. Besides… I already have made you do that once and it didn't work for long."

"Then what do you want me to do? Because I'm so tired of being hated by my own brothers. I love you and Stefan more than you can imagine and would do anything for you. You're the only family I have left… I don't want to be alone."

He wrapped his arm around me and placed a kiss on my temple. "I don't hate you, Althea. I'm pissed off, yes, but I don't hate you. I just wish that you hadn't fallen for Klaus too. He's nothing but trouble to all of us."

Unfortunately, I had to agree with the last part, but that didn't change the fact that he did have a big role in my life and that he'd done so many wonderful things for me.

"What do we do then?"

He wiped away a tear from my cheek that I hadn't realized I'd shed. "There's something I have to tell you first. It's about Klaus _and_ his siblings."

I frowned and took a quick peek around to make sure that none of them were here. "What about them?"

"At the night of the ball, Esther cast a spell on all of her children that links them together, so if one die…"

"Then they all die… Oh God… does Elijah know this?"

Damon shook his head. "And I don't want them to know. Althea, I know you love him and Klaus, but they have to die. I could easily have kept this from you, but you're my sister and I trust that you won't ruin our only shot at killing Klaus."

"How do you expect me not to say or do anything about it? I can't let them die! What about Kol, Finn and Rebekah? They'll die too."

"Well, Finn is the one who wants it to happen. He's working with his mother to undo what she did 1000 years ago."

I couldn't believe it.

If one of Klaus' siblings died, then so did he. I couldn't let that happen, but I also knew that it might be what I was supposed to do – let it happen.

If I did that then I could be with my brothers without having to constantly worry about who I loved the most, but it just didn't feel right of me to do that to them – especially not Elijah.

"Please Althea. I beg you. Don't tell them anything."

I sighed heavily and felt like my heart was going to break. "I don't know, Damon. I want to keep it a secret, but it hurts too much to even think about doing it."

Damon placed his hand on mine. "Trust me. I know. But if we don't do this Klaus will take his revenge on Stefan, I will go after him and then you'll suddenly be alone anyway. So… do you love us or them the most?"

It wasn't fair of him to ask a question like that, because I had no idea of whether I could choose between them or not.

"I… okay. I'll… do it."

I felt the tears trickling down my cheeks as I said it, but when Damon went to wipe them away, I turned around and left the Grill, hurrying out to the alley where I could let the tears out.

Oh God, was I really doing this?

Was I really letting them both… die?

"_You are doing the right thing, Althea._" a familiar voice said.

I snorted and turned around, facing Esther who stood only a few feet away from me. "No, I'm not. I'm doing the easiest thing. There's nothing right about letting two men you love die." I said.

"They are abominations! A disgrace to our family! Are you aware of how many innocent humans they have killed the last 1000 years? How they have hurt each other?"

"I can't believe you! You're ready to kill your own children just to make up for a mistake _you_ and your husband made many years ago! They shouldn't have to pay the price for you mistake!"

"I turned them into vampires – not murderers, Althea. They did that to themselves. And since I cannot have you interfering with my plans tonight, I have to stop you know."

I was about to flee, but Finn caught up with me and broke my neck before I could get away. The last thing I sensed was the sound of my neck breaking and the feeling of my body falling into someone's arms.

Perhaps Esther was right, though. Perhaps this was the right thing to do.

When I woke up again I found myself lying on the ground inside a flaming circle. My hands had been tied behind my back with vervain soaked ropes and a few feet away I could see Finn trying to guard his mother from Elijah, Kol and Klaus.

"Really, Mother? You're going to kill the one other woman we've ever loved and us too?" Klaus said.

What? I tried standing up, but that only made the flames around me flare up. "Stay still, Althea!" Elijah quickly said.

I stayed still, but I was scared and feared that I was going to witness Esther killing the only two men I'd ever loved in my life.

"Yes, Niklaus, and you know why? It is because of you that this woman has to choose between her brothers and something that's not even worth fighting for." Esther said.

"You would do that to me too?" I looked at Elijah and could see that he was shivering slightly.

He was scared like me. The always calm and composed Elijah Mikaelson was scared of losing me. I looked at Klaus too and noticed that he was calmer – as if he was ready to risk letting me die.

Maybe I chose the wrong brother?

"I'm sorry Elijah, but you too have disappointed me greatly. You say you are a man of honor and still you helped Klaus for all those years – _killed _innocent people without feeling remorse."

We waited in silence for a moment, but then we suddenly heard the sound of someone screaming and the flames began flaring up once more. I felt my flesh burning and screamed too, drowning the sound of Esther begging the dead witches not to leave her.

Both Elijah and Klaus tried getting to me, but the flames were too high and warm. The flames, however, suddenly died out and both Esther and Finn disappeared.

Damon, who'd been inside the witch house with Stefan, ran outside to me before Klaus or Elijah could and held my burned body in his arms.

"Althea, no, no, no! Heal up…" he pleaded.

I tried, but it was like my power to heal had disappeared. I felt… different – almost like I'd lost more than just my ability to heal.

"Wha-what's happening to me?" I asked hoarsely.

Damon bit his wrist open and pressed it to my mouth, but the blood only helped a little. Stefan hurried out to us too and his eyes turned wide when he saw what had happened to me.

"It must be a spell. She tricked us! She said wouldn't hurt you, but– Damon, we have to get her to a hospital now!" he said.

Damon nodded and picked me up carefully, running as fast as he could with me to the hospital. I didn't know if the doctors could even help me, but right now I was in so much pain that I was ready to just about anything.

I was taken to a room and Damon compelled a doctor to take a look at me, but from the look of the doctor's facial expression it didn't look good.

"It's lucky she's still alive," he said. "With burn marks like these she should be unconscious."

Damon rolled his eyes. "I know that! Isn't there anything you can do about it?"

The doctor nodded. "I can start the treatment we do on all burn victims, but it'll take time for her to recover."

"Great! If Klaus doesn't kill that witch, then I sure as hell will!"

"Damon now isn't the time to get pissed off! We need to find a witch who can help us undo whatever Esther did to her." Stefan said.

"And how are we going to do that? We just killed Bonnie's mom, so I hardly believe that she'll help us and we don't know other witches besides her."

As much as I hated to say it, then Damon was right and until they did find another strong witch, I had to endure the pain I was in.

"_Move away, you idiots!_" Klaus hissed, pushing my brothers out of his way.

Damon snorted. "You think your blood will make a difference just because it can heal a werewolf bite?" he asked.

Klaus flashed his hybrid fangs at him. "As a matter of fact, I do. Now move away or your sister might die."

Damon and Stefan reluctantly moved away and we all watched as Klaus bit his wrist open, connecting the open wound to my IV, so his blood would go directly into my veins. We all waited patiently for something to happen, but his blood too only healed me a little bit.

"I'm sorry, Althea… This is all my fault." Klaus said quietly.

I wanted to say that that wasn't true, but I couldn't focus on saying anything when it hurt so much to move even a few inches.

Klaus placed a soft kiss on my forehead and left, but he wasn't the only one who'd come. Elijah had too and it pained me to see him look so sad. He was such a good man… a man I loved perhaps more than his younger brother.

"Start the treatment," Stefan said to the doctor, then turned his gaze to me. "Hold on, Althea. We promise we'll find a way to help you."

**Thanks for reading and please review! ;D**


	27. Gone Forever

**A/N: Hii, thanks for the amazing reviews! ;D**

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 26:

Damon stayed with me throughout the entire night and talked with me about our troubled childhood, trying everything he could to keep my mind off the pain I was in.

When morning came Stefan arrived and took his place, allowing Damon to go home and feed or rest after the long night he'd had.

I hadn't seen Klaus or Elijah after Klaus tried giving me his blood, but I was sure that they were now looking for a way to help me, which I was very grateful of.

"How are you feeling now? Is the treatment working?" Stefan asked worriedly.

"To answer your first question, then I feel and probably still look like burned toast," I said hoarsely. "As for the second question, then I don't know."

Stefan sighed and moved his chair a little closer to me. "I'm so sorry you got caught up with all this. You don't deserve to suffer like this."

I snorted weakly. "Yes I do. This is my punishment for falling in love with two brothers. But that's what happens when you keep too many secrets to each other. I mean, if Klaus hadn't compelled me to forget about him and left me with his brother, then I might not love him as much as I still do."

"How did you and Elijah even meet? You never told us that story."

I closed my eyes for a moment and tried remember the day we met. I remembered how I made my first attempt at compelling someone and failed miserably, but Elijah came and saved me.

"I was out shopping while Klaus was out and wanted a pair of ruby earrings, so I went inside to the shopkeeper and tried compelling him into giving me them for free… only I had no control of my powers yet, so I failed. Elijah saw me, though, and helped me before the man became mad and gave me the earrings as well."

Stefan smiled. "How come you left him when you seem to love him so much?"

I shrugged. "Klaus did turn me and he's the reason why I'm free, but… I also fell in love with a side of him that he rarely shows anymore, because he's too caught up with his plans. I miss that Klaus and dread that it is gone forever. I saw it at the night of the ball, but… you know how quickly he changes. You never really know what to think of him."

Stefan didn't comment on that, but there was suddenly a knock on the door. We both looked up and I was surprised to see Klaus standing in the doorway – not because he was visiting me, but because he'd actually bought me a bouquet of my favorite kind of flower.

Lilies.

"Stefan, can I please talk with Klaus alone?" I asked.

Stefan glared venomously at Klaus at first, but he eventually left the room and Klaus walked inside, placing the lilies on a table next to the bed.

"How much did you hear?"

I was in too much pain to worry about how Klaus felt about me still being in love with Elijah, because surely he must have known it. Old feelings didn't die just like that and that was one of the reasons why I went back to him.

"About everything," he said, taking a seat on the chair. "I don't care. I know it's my own fault that Elijah even set his eyes on you, but this doesn't change my feelings for you. I still love you, Althea."

I closed my eyes again for a few minutes and felt tears trickling down my cheeks. Klaus carefully wiped them away and stroked my cheek gently.

"I can't stand seeing you suffer like this… as much as I want to ignore the fact, then I know that you don't belong with me. You belong with Elijah."

I opened my eyes and looked confusedly at him. It didn't sound like something Klaus would say, but he looked very serious in his decision and perhaps he knew that I was longing for Elijah.

"Klaus, I–"

"I know, but I can also tell the difference between caring and loving someone. You care immensely about me and I am grateful of that, but your heart has never really belonged to me. You want to get married, to live a somewhat normal life and be with your brothers…"

I sighed heavily and just held his hand for a long time with none of us saying a word. I knew it broke Klaus' heart to know that the woman he turned and fell in love with was in love with his brother, but deep inside I knew that he was right.

I did belong with Elijah.

There was something about the man that made my immortal heart skip a beat or sometimes even beat a little faster, but I did love Klaus at some point and enjoyed spending time with him.

"This doesn't mean that I have chosen a side," I said. "I'm still your friend and won't let them kill you for what you are."

Klaus smiled weakly and leaned down, placing one last and soft kiss on my lips before leaving the room in a flash. Stefan returned once he was sure that Klaus had left and kept me company for the rest of the day.

"You don't happen to know where Elijah is, do you?" I asked when Elena came to pay me a visit too.

Elena shook her head and looked longingly at Stefan, making me wonder when any of them was going to take the next step. I didn't like the idea of both mybrothers being in love with her like they were with Katherine, but I liked Elena and trusted that she wouldn't exploit them too.

"How are you feeling? Damon mentioned that you were in a lot of pain." she said worriedly.

"I've been worse," I lied, not wanting her to worry about me too. "Enough about me. How are you and your friends? I heard about what Damon did to Bonnie's mother."

"I haven't heard from Bonnie since that night, but she and her mom both need to some time alone."

I nodded in agreement and looked to Stefan. "You don't have to stay here all day. I'm not going anywhere anytime soon."

He groaned. "Yes and that's exactly why I'm here. I can't have anyone waltzing right in here and staking you while you rest."

I rolled my eyes and looked pleadingly at Elena. "It's ok, Stefan. I can stay with her for a couple of hours."

Stefan hesitated, but he seemed too tired to argue with her and decided to let her stay with me for the next couple of hours, while he moved on with his life.

"The Stefan you fell in love with is still in there, you know. He's just not sure how to admit that he made a mistake," I said once I knew Stefan was outside hearing range. "Did you know that he has stopped drinking human blood?"

Elena looked like she definitely didn't know that and shook her head. "I hope he'll get better, but I don't know if I love him the same way I did before. And then there's still Damon, who's in love with me too…"

I held Elena's hand in mine. "Don't worry. It'll work out eventually. I just hope that Elijah still loves me after the mistake I made."

"I'm sure he will. I have never seen him so happy about anyone before."

I grinned. "That's because Eli is business before love, but I like that about him. He's a real gentleman, but still dangerous when he wants to and so kind-hearted."

Elena smiled weakly. "Like you."

"I like you too, Elena. I met Katherine once in the 1920s and from what I've gathered, then she was nothing like you despite the physical resemblance."

"Thank you, but have you talked with Elijah since that night?"

"No, but hopefully he'll come soon. If not, then I understand him and respect his choice. It took a lot of him to even let me go back to Klaus, but you don't have to stay here either. I'll be fine."

"You sure you don't want any company?"

I nodded and although Elena rather wanted to stay, then I really needed some time alone and wanted to think a little over the things that happened today.

I was alone for a few hours and spent the hours trying to get some sleep. I rested in peace and once I woke up because of the sound of a baby crying, I saw that Elijah was standing by the bed, changing my daily blood bag for me instead of bringing a nurse in.

I smiled weakly, but didn't make a sound and pretended to be still asleep when he was done changing the blood bag.

Of course the man couldn't resist the temptation to return.

Elijah sat in the chair and continued watching me sleep, apparently completely unaware of that I was actually awake. He then began reading a book, but every now and then he would glance at me with a worried look on his face.

It was so sweet that he took some time off to look out for me and when he was here I felt my love for him overshadow the pain.

I thought I'd play a joke on him, so I began smiling in my "sleep" and made noises that would make him think that I was having a very dirty dream.

As I expected then Elijah's cheeks turned rosy and he looked like he wanted to leave, but when he stood up I grabbed his hand and opened my eyes.

"You're so easy to fool. You really think I had a sex dream?" I asked teasingly.

Elijah rolled his eyes, but sat down again and put his book away. "You're really annoying just like your brothers. It must run in the bloodline." he said.

I giggled and pulled the chair a little closer to the bed. "Thank you for coming. I have something I need to tell you…"

"I have something I need to tell you too. I… went to see my mother today and asked her if there was anything she could do to help you. She said that she would remove the spell she cast on you if I agreed to help her finding the other white oak tree that was planted 700 years ago, but… I said no. I know that you love him, so I didn't want to–"

"Oh God!" I carefully sat up and took a deep breath before saying. "Elijah, I appreciate what you did, but you really need to hear me out first. I love you and Klaus and I… well, we're not together anymore. He helped me find out who I really love."

Elijah looked absolutely speechless – something I rarely experienced.

"And you're sure? Completely sure?"

I nodded. "I'm utterly in love with you, Elijah. I always have been. I don't know what it is, but it feels right and if you still want to, then–"

Elijah left in a flash, leaving me completely speechless too.

**Thanks for reading and please review! :D**


	28. Impulsive Behavior

**A/N: Hii, thanks for the lovely reviews and here's the second last chap ;)**

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Chapter 27:

The sound of a woman chanting woke me up from my slumber and I gasped as I saw that it was the same woman who cursed me to suffer like this.

Beside her stood… Elijah? I frowned and looked confusedly at him, but he seemed calm about the fact that his crazy mother was performing a spell on me.

"What's going on?" I asked anxiously.

"It's ok. She's removing the curse she placed on you," Elijah answered. "She promised she would."

That didn't mean that we could trust her. She had tricked us before and tried killing her own children along with me, but I tried not to freak out and took in deep breaths to calm myself down.

Slowly, the pain began fading away and I felt my limbs healing up under the gaze that was wrapped around most of my body. Once Esther stopped chanting I was fully healed and was able to sit up without my body aching.

"There," Esther said nonchalantly. "The curse has been lifted. Now tell your brother to release Finn as we agreed."

So that was why she was helping me? They were keeping Finn imprisoned, so she couldn't use him to guard her or help her kill them all.

Elijah pulled his phone out and called Klaus, telling him to release their traitor of a brother. Esther looked relieved, but when she looked at Elijah I saw a look of sorrow in her eyes.

"Despite our differences, then I hope that the two of you will be happy together." she said.

Her son didn't say anything, but merely nodded curtly and watched her leaving the hospital. He then walked up to me and helped me stand up. My legs still felt a little like jelly, so I had to support myself to him.

"I thought you weren't going to return," I said, remembering how he just left me alone for two days. My brothers had of course visited me as much as they could, but it wasn't the same. "I understand if you hate me for saying what I said…"

"Why would I hate you?" he asked confusedly.

"Because, Elijah! I broke your heart and left you to be with Klaus and then I wanted you back when I realized that I loved you the most all along." I answered.

Elijah sighed. "Althea… _Allie, _I love you as much as I did before. Seeing you with Klaus hasn't changed anything."

My eyes widened. How could he say such a thing when I broke his heart? I would've been pissed off or perhaps hesitated about taking him back, so why would he take me back?

It didn't make any sense!

"I also had to fetch this for you…"

Elijah took out something shiny from his pocket and I smiled brightly when I saw that it was an antique three-stoned silver diamond ring with a beautiful floret design on its sides that made it look like it was made in the Victorian age, which it probably was.

I gasped at the sight of it and it made my hand tremble a little as Elijah slipped it on my finger. I couldn't believe that he'd bought such a beautiful ring for me.

"Dare I ask how much you gave for this?" I asked.

"Probably not," Elijah answered and chuckled. "I take it you like it?"

I gaped. "Like it? Elijah, I love it so much that I want to marry it and have its children! That's how much I love it!"

He chuckled again and pulled me in for a passionate kiss – like the one we'd shared the day he professed his love to me in the street.

"We'll find a way to break the link between you and your siblings, I promise." I said as I broke the fiery kiss.

"Yes, but first I think we should get married straight away." Elijah said.

I was shocked by Elijah's impulsive behavior, but after everything we'd been through then a part of me wasn't so surprised after all.

"So we're getting married this week?"

He nodded. "I'll make sure everything is as it's supposed to be. "

I smiled. "I'm so going to take Damon and Stefan with me when I'm going to find a wedding dress. It'll be torture for them!"

Elijah chuckled and stroked my cheek gently. "I'm done putting you second and if I'm going to die, then I'll at least die as a married man."

I grinned. "Have you ever been married before?"

His cheeks turned a little red, confirming my suspicion. He was a virgin when it came to marriage, but so was I.

"Let's go then. We don't have a lot of time." I said.

I tried walking, but my legs were still wobbly, so Elijah had to carry me out of the hospital and placed me in his new shiny car. I couldn't stop myself from giggling at the thought of Elijah driving around in a black BMW and trying to look cool.

"I like this new and improved you. What happened while I was hospitalized?" I asked.

"I spent too much time with your and my own brothers." Elijah answered.

I laughed and tried envisioning him drinking with my brothers or having a deep conversation with any of his own siblings.

"God, I can't get in my head that we're getting married this week. A few days ago we were fighting your mom and now–"

"Now you're becoming a part of my messed up family."

I sighed. "It's not messed up. It's just… complicated and troubled. My family isn't exactly perfect either."

He looked at me and smiled weakly. We didn't talk more about the wedding or about our family, until I was back home and joined my brothers in the living room. They were in the middle of arguing about Elena when they saw Elijah carrying me inside.

"Althea!" Stefan exclaimed, shocked that I was fully healed up and back to normal.

"Elijah got Esther to remove the curse on me by kidnapping his brother. Isn't he awesome?" I asked, smiling brightly, purposely making Elijah blush. "Ohh! He also bought me this! Look!"

I near enough shoved my hand right in Damon's face to show him the ring and when he took a look at it, he raised an eyebrow and looked at Elijah.

"You proposed to her? Again? Why the hell would you want to marry _her_? She's freakin' annoying and–"

I quickly covered Damon's mouth. "Don't listen to him, Elijah! He's probably just drunk again." I said.

Stefan laughed and shook his head of us. "We still have to stop Esther first and make Klaus too." he said, though.

"And we will, but after the wedding on Friday." Elijah said calmly.

My brothers' eyes widened and they immediately turned their gazes to me. "You're getting married next week?"

I nodded and ignored that Damon rolled his eyes of us. "We're in the middle of trying to stop a crazy hybrid and _your_–" He pointed at Elijah. "Equally crazy mother, so you really want to have a wedding now?"

Elijah and I both nodded this time. "You can take care of Elijah's bachelor party if you want to."

Stefan frowned. "Um… Thea, maybe that's not such a good idea. It's Damon we're talking about."

I giggled. "Oh, yeah. Oops! Well, then you get the honor of participating to his bachelor party. I'll throw mine here, invite the girls over for drinks, male strippers and–"

"You're not having male strippers here!" they all said at the same time.

Okay, then. No strippers. Well, that sucked!

"If I'm not getting a male stripper then you're not getting a female one. Neither is you Damon!"

He rolled his eyes, while Elijah looked more than a little uncomfortable about this. The poor guy was going to regret marrying me even before we'd said "I do"!

"I have an idea. Why don't we just have a _normal_ family dinner?" Stefan suggested.

"Sounds like a good idea," Elijah said. "Although, the last time I was at a dinner party at Damon's place, he daggered me and kept me locked inside his basement, so I think I will have a normal family dinner with my own family."

I glared at Damon for doing that, but he didn't care. Now that my brothers knew that I was marrying Elijah, I decided to go upstairs with him and changed my clothes from the hospital scrubs Elijah had "borrowed" from one of the nurses.

"Did Damon really dagger you?" I asked as I changed my clothes in front of him.

"Oh, yes. Well, actually it was Mr. Saltzman, but he was the one who planned it. At least he had the decency to undagger me again." Elijah answered.

"You better get used to having him around, though, because he's going to be your brother-in-law once we're married. Unless… we of course move away from here."

"Only if you want to. I've travelled all over the world at least 10 times, so I don't mind where we're live."

I walked over to the bed where he sat and sat down on his lap. "We'll think about that some other time, but I want to decide where we go on our honeymoon and we're definitely not staying here."

He smirked. "What do you have in mind?"

I smiled secretively. "That's a secret that you'll never figure out."

He shook his head of me. "You do realize that I can compel you into telling me your secret, right?"

"…. Ops. Well, if you do that then I refuse to marry you."

"I can compel you to marry me too."

"God damn it, Elijah! I'm trying to win this conversation!"

Elijah chuckled and pulled me in for a kiss. "I hope you never change, Althea. I really do."

**Thanks for reading and please review! ;D**


	29. Epilogue

**A/N: Hii, thanks for all the lovely reviews, favs and alerts! ;D**

**Here the ending is and warning - it gets sort of fluffy in the end xD**

**Enjoy!**

**xoxo Ascha**

Epilogue:

The following days were… mildly said very stressful.

Caroline helped me with finding the right dress, Elena helped out with finding the perfect isolated place where we could get married and Bonnie… well, she was still having a hard time, but she helped with a few things too despite hating Damon for what he did to her mother.

Still, we managed to turn our spontaneous wedding somewhat perfect and on the night before my wedding I then had a small dinner party with my brothers, while Elijah was with his own siblings.

We originally meant to stay at home that evening, but we all felt like going for a drink, so we went to the Mystic Grill and sat at the bar together, drinking their best bottle of Bourbon that Damon ordered to celebrate my last night as unmarried.

"It took nearly 150 years before it happened, but our sister finally decided to get married," Damon said teasingly. "I bet William is turning in his grave right now."

"That's his fault. He could've been nicer to me," I said, taking a swig of my glass. "When are the two of you getting married?"

They both looked at each other and I could guess that they were both thinking about Elena. I shook my head lightly and took another swig of my drink when I suddenly felt someone poke me on my back and heard Damon growling a little.

"Klaus? Shouldn't you be with your siblings now?" I asked confusedly when I saw him.

"I was, but… the dinner ended up being sort of a disaster," he answered, taking a seat next to me. "I was hoping that I could crash your little bachelorette party."

I grinned. "Of course. I was banned from hiring a male stripper, so this is the most fun I can have."

Klaus chuckled. "Now why doesn't that surprise me? But don't worry, Elijah refused to go to a strip club with Kol, so he's not going anywhere too."

"That's not a shocker. The guy is like a good Christian." Damon said.

"Hey! Don't you talk bad about my fiancé! He can be very bad when he wants to. Right, Stefan?" I said.

"Of course, Althea. If he was good then he wouldn't have betrayed us and saved Klaus the night he broke his curse." Stefan said coldly.

Klaus rolled his eyes and I felt very awkward sitting with them now. "We're leaving town after the wedding, so I hope you'll behave while we're away."

"You're leaving town? In the middle of all this chaos?" Damon asked.

I nodded. "We need to get away, but we'll be back in a few weeks." I answered.

I turned my gaze to Klaus and noticed that he was deep in thought. Perhaps he was worrying about my safety or Elijah's safety when Esther and Finn were still out there.

"Anyone up for a game of pool? The loser has to proclaim his or hers love for Justin Bieber or sing Rebecca Black's _Friday_." I said.

"I don't know who they are, but I'm assuming it's a bad thing and embarrassing, so I'm all in," Klaus said. "I can't wait to hear you sing again, sweetheart."

I blushed, but finished my drink and went with Klaus to the pool table, while my brothers stayed in the bar and continued glaring at Klaus.

We both ignored them and their childish behavior and just played like two friends out together. I knew that I didn't stand a chance against Klaus with his 1000 years, but I still did my best (by best I mean cheated) and might have flashed my cleavage a little too much.

"I'm guessing you're looking forward to tomorrow, yes?" he asked.

"I'm a nerve wreck. I can't believe that I'm getting married tomorrow. I mean, it's a dream come true, but to think that I'm marrying an Original, it's just so…"

"Surreal?"

I nodded and sighed weakly. "I wonder what's going through Elijah's head right now."

"He's… happy. So much I can tell. But any man would be happy to marry you."

I knew that by 'any man' he included himself and despite not loving him anymore, then I would gladly marry him if I had never met Elijah.

"What happened to the dinner party? Did you get into an argument or something?"

He shrugged. "Or something. He wanted me to come to the wedding as his best man. I didn't."

I groaned. "Klaus, please. I know you're unhappy about it, but he's your brother. He wants your support on the day he gets married. Have he not supported you for nearly 1000 years and helped you break your curse?"

Klaus looked at me for a long time and then sighed. "Fine. I will come, but only if you get up on the stage and sing that song you talked about."

"Oh it's so on!" I went up on the stage and grabbed the microphone, earning some curious looks from the other guests and weird looks from my brothers.

Oh well! I'd had too much to drink to care about embarrassing myself too much. I began singing the horrific song much to their displeasure and gave Klaus a good laugh.

Unfortunately, Elijah decided to go to the Grill too and the look on his face when he saw me drunk on that stage… oh, it was priceless!

"I'm pretty sure our sister has gone insane." Damon muttered.

"For once I agree with you," Stefan said, shaking his head. "But we better film it so we can bully her later."

Damon smirked. "Good idea!"

Elijah overheard their conversation and shook his head, but I walked down to him while I kept seeing and dragged him up on the stage too, making Klaus laugh so hard that he smashed the pool table from hitting it too much.

"I think you've had way too much to drink tonight," Elijah said when I was done. Despite me acting like a complete and utter fool then people still clapped and cheered. "Good thing I came here."

"Hey, people loved it! I'm a very lovable person and– _what_ are you doing here?" I asked suspiciously.

Elijah looked towards Klaus and I realized why he was here. "I've already talked with him and convinced him into coming to the wedding and will also be your best man."

"So that's why you were up singing?"

I nodded. "You have to sacrifice something sometimes."

He chuckled and pulled me in for a passionate kiss, but I tended to get a bit… wilder when I was drunk and nearly jumped on him much to his surprise.

"Get a room, brother!" Klaus said teasingly.

Elijah pulled away and I swore I saw his cheeks turn rosy. "That can easily be arranged." I said teasingly.

"Okay, I better get you home now. Hopefully you'll sober up a little before tomorrow afternoon," Elijah said and chuckled. "C'mon. Let me take you home."

I let him usher me out of the Grill, but on my way out I waved to Damon and Stefan eagerly, making them shake their head of me again. Elijah took me home and even though I more wanted to go back and have fun, then it was nice to be alone with him again.

"You still want to marry me after seeing that horrific and embarrassing performance?" I asked.

"Of course. I love your flaws and in those years we lived together I learned to love your drunken behavior too." Elijah answered teasingly.

I laughed and thought back on all those wonderful evenings we'd had together in the 19th century and somewhat remembered the embarrassing things I did while being drunk.

After Elijah dropped me off I pulled him in for one last kiss before letting him ago, because even if the wedding became a disaster then I wanted to remind myself that we still had each other.

I slept peacefully throughout the entire night, but of course I woke up with a nasty hangover and it didn't get better when Stefan woke me up by showing me the video of my performance last night.

"You're so cruel, brother. Why did you have to record it?" I asked grumpily.

"To remind you that we love you despite how silly you become when you're drunk," he answered. "Get up or else you'll be late to your own wedding."

I pulled Stefan in for a tight hug and thanked him for everything, then went downstairs to Damon, who was drinking his daily glass of blood.

"Morning, Mrs. Mikaelson!" he said teasingly.

"Ha-ha, very funny brother, but I'm not even taking Elijah's last name." I said.

He raised an eyebrow. "You're keeping _our_ last name?"

I nodded and grabbed his glass of blood, taking a swig of it. "Althea Mikaelson doesn't really… fit, but maybe I'll change it later. Who knows?"

"Well, whatever you do then I'll still tease you."

I rolled my eyes. "Thank you, Damon (!) I feel so lucky now."

He grinned, but I wiped the grin off his face when I kissed him on his cheek. I giggled and went to open the door as I knew that Elena and Caroline were on their way to the house.

They went inside and upstairs with me and helped me getting ready for my big day in the most girlish way possible.

It was scary how much Caroline knew about fashion, but she made me look beautiful and as soon as we were all ready to go, we went to the garden behind the Mikaelson Mansion where the wedding was being held.

About 100 people or so were gathered to the wedding and among those I saw all of Elijah's siblings – except for Finn of course.

We'd kept most of it traditional, but since my father was very much dead, then Damon became the one to follow me up the aisle and he did it without any smartass comments (thank God!).

Elijah, who was standing next to Klaus in an expensive black suit, smiled brightly the second his gaze fell on me and he looked up and down at me, taking in the sight of me in a beautiful white wedding dress and savoring it like I was savoring the sight of him.

No matter what happened in the future, then I knew that I would always have Elijah and I couldn't wait to start a new life with him – trouble free or not...

**Thanks for reading and please review! ;D**


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